Hemorrhage
by Blase Contradiction
Summary: They thought they knew Sakura Mikan. They didn't. She ran away,a trail of destruction left in her wake, their trust for her wavering. When an evil greater than the AAO strikes, she'll be forced to face the shadows of her past whether she likes it or not.
1. Pushing Away

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**Chapter 1: Pushing Away**

I didn't want it to be true. I didn't want any of this. Never asked for it. So I walked away. The pain of the truth hurt and I didn't want to have to bear it on my already weak shoulders. Why should I have to?

My Alice, powerful and practically indestructible, forced those who opposed me and came close far away, manifesting itself into white fire that emblazoned me.

Why?

My eyes, pained and far too old to be a young child's were, I knew, empty and devoid of any emotion. My limbs were limp, numb and unwilling to move anymore than to force away those who stood in my way…I didn't want to see any of them. I met her at the crossroads, her violet gaze, daunting and daring me to stay, to hurt her and push her away.

I didn't care about her anymore. I moved my hand forward and shoved her aside. This pain, it was more than me and move than I'd ever dared to imagine possible feel before. But the thought of what they had done to me, torture me and hurt me for the past years, disgusted me.

They used me. For so long they'd toyed with my life without me knowing and I didn't care enough to stop playing the fool and look the monster in the eye, knowing if I did, I'd have found out the truth sooner. I let myself be a fixture here, my life blending into the sophisticated lifestyle and background that didn't suit me. It was never going to end, this blasted saga, was it?

My mind was mostly blank, with only one thought that guided me away. Just one thought echoed through my mind. And I was sure that if I took that path, I would find resolute peace. I would have to leave my life behind. Fine. That didn't matter. This place was messed up. Nothing normal existed here in this goddamned place. My own best friend despised me, seeing me as nothing but a burden, a sacrifice of her time.

So why stay and endure the pain, laughs and stares, gossips, rumors, lies and snarls that were all directed at me? Why endure the pain when I know that all I had shied away from, leaving my depression behind and looking for an impossible happiness and pulling up a seemingly unbreakable façade, only to find that those shadows and demons that I'd tried running from had caught up to me and shattered my peace and mask?

The façade that protected me from unbearable pain. The facade that hid my true face that they said was a curse. The façade that earned itself people who called themselves friends. The façade that disguised my vulnerability and weakness as sheer joy and happiness. The façade that had nearly become me and my entire existence. That wasn't who I was and would never ever become me. I had sunk into that cushy existence for far too long and I knew it would never last. ,

So I wanted to run away from the judging eyes of those who would call me worthless when I revealed what I was truly…

My Alice, infinite power to annihilate, would allow me that at the very least. I had it all mapped out in my mind. I would simply fall off the face of the Earth and they would do well to forget me and be done with it. Forget all that I'd been and the very fact that I'd ever existed. That was for the best. I knew what was best for them and they didn't…or did they? No….no turning back now…ever…

_I'd knew you'd never make it,_ the voice at the back of mind mocked me. Yuu stood in my path, struggling to stop me, but I simply shrugged him away with a flick of my hand.

_Shut up_, I retorted, hurling Sumire away at the same time.

_Knowing you, I thought you'd have run much sooner. _

_Knowing me… I'm unpredictable. _

_Touché…continue? _

_Gladly. I was foolish enough to see if life here, under a mask would be simple. I'd quietly die and the world forgets I ever walked the Earth. Foolish of me to think these…people…would let me go and let me live the way I wanted to. _

_Not so simple _

_Hardly. Apparently, 'they' must insist on disturbing me at every turn I make. The past must always catch up, doesn't it? _Jinno and Narumi weren't much of a challenge for me as I cast them aside along with the rest of them, discarding them into the heap of bodies that lay in one corner. I stared at the mess I'd made.

_Yes, it does. And I remember…your 'esteemed' past. _

_Shove off before I decided to kill you. _

_Touchy, touchy…you must be losing your mind. I am you. so if I died, so would you. _

_Not such a bad idea if I think about it. _

I didn't hear its cackling voice as I reached the gate. The people I saw lying on the ground, it didn't sicken me. Ruka was sprawled nearest to the building I had exited having been the first to try and stop me from my rampage. Hotaru, second and worst to try. Mochu, Sumire, Anna, Nonoko, Subaru, Tsubasa, Misaki and the teachers were lined up after. I didn't waver. It was of no more importance. Nevermind that that person wasn't registered in that pile. I didn't care.

I saw Kokoroyumi at the gate, trying to read my mind for any snaches of memory. I released the torrent of suffocating memories to him. I didn't need to stop him physically. No. he didn't retaliate so I would leave him with emotional scars instead. I let him alone after that, his crouching body shivering as one-by-one, the scenes of yesterday flew through his mind's eye. I walked to the gate, and like the mass of bodies behind me, the gate was gone.

And I let myself be swallowed by darkness. I didn't look back once.

I didn't look back at the chaotic mess of people I left behind.

I was stabbed…by the pain and in my hand, the single piece of paper that led to this madness was turned to a crisp. But nevermind it anymore. That person and the rest of them were the same: uncaring, lying.

So I forced myself to break into a run.

Anything…

I would give anything…

To have that monster in me, far, far away…

I ran…

Letting myself go faster…

Letting my past self, the clever façade of a person who was not me, the old me, I, myself, Sakura Mikan disappear far behind me as I continued chasing the long forgotten, delayed and treacherous chase with the shadows of the past.

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**A/N: Bet you thought it was Natsume!! ok...tell me if you did later...now i gtg! Ja! **


	2. Twist

**Sorry it took so long to upload!** **I was so lazy to type...but I think it's pretty long! for the sypnopsis of this dark tale im spinning, read my profile for more info! **

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**Chapter 2: Twist**

Sheer desperation flayed me alive. My speed, the neck-breaking velocity of my dash was lightning fast so that, thankfully, the pain of my life had simmered down from radioactive poison to acid. But, annoyingly, I had wasted my energy running for the past three days. I now crouched down to the ground, panting for air. I crawled to a nearby stream, staring at my surroundings, registering it was a forest, maybe somewhere south of Japan. I splashed cool water unto my face, the liquid drops refreshing, also gulping helping after helping of water. As the water calmed down, I saw my reflection in the rippling surface. I saw my face, cold, pale and scared. Then, next to image, I saw my past self, the always cheerful face that never wavered, covering up the true me. I was scared. The contrast between the two was startling.

One was rosy, all smiles. Her face, ecstatic and full of life was overwhelming. There were few who were as pretty as she and also as kind. This young thing was charming and never backed down from a fight.

The other was empty of emotion. Her face was pale like paper, her eyes fearful, like she was aching to kill something that was hunting her. I saw the pain in her the thing cheeks, her cracked lips evidence of her suffering. I shut my eyes and splashed at the water and the cracked-mirror images disappeared.

In my heart the contents of the letter appeared again, flickering to brightness, stabbing me with all the pains of the past. I knew I should not have stop running. But there pictures was still here.

_Dear Sakura, _

_How long has it been sine I last had a battle, let alone a chat with you? I'd love to see your face again, it cool pallor and the wild, miserable look in your face. Why, I remember the last I saw you, you were only four, but already a genius! Sorry…I'm blabbing. Right. But I'm afraid, that I must send this letter under the most pressuring of matters, might even bring about a civil war! Haha… We here at the Shizo Academy want you back. So, we want you to know, that we have had the Alice Academy under our foot the period of your stay. Everything you've known and experienced has been a lie. The teachers are our people and your little Black Cat? A monetary expense. _

_We want you to know, no, remind you that we created you. Everything you know is because of us. Your acting skills may have been…extraordinary to those around you, but remember this: as easily as we created you, we can bring you down. Your killing instincts, stellar as they are, may have been your own but we honed them into a powerful asset. So come back to us or be killed…we're waiting._

_With love,_

_Hirazuki Idare. _

I was disgusted. The walk I'd started had been too little to vent my immaculate anger. So I started my run again, moving with light-speed and agility that would have shocked even Persona. I rushed forward, no heed for the past. I wanted the future of my own choosing. But the past, that tendril-and-claw-grown thing that grabbed at me, trying to keep its hold on me, just wouldn't let go.

The disturbia was threatening. I remembered what they used to call me.

Project Hemorrhage.

I could kill with skill, speed and accuracy which were the only things they accepted, allowed and wanted. By the tender age of four I was a master assassin, out-classing a grown adult by three hundred times. To add to that, I was an Alice. But unlike my weaker but nonetheless strong counterpart, Natsume, I was far more ruthless, merciless and soulless. I had no one to protect. I knew he fought for reasons like protecting his friends ant the Academy. Those reasons kept him sane. But I, God forbid, was _created_ to murder, kill, slaughter and lie. That was who I was. My whole existence was a giant apocalyptic weapon. My dancer feet killed hundreds at the age of three. My lithe body had stolen at the age of two. My innocent face had lied since I was born. I learned to kill before I learned to walk. My murderer's mind had been taught, beaten back and washed with discipline and a longing to kill for as long as I could remember.

Under the exterior little girl and her genius acting skills, I was a lanky, strong and merciless weapon. I laughed. I couldn't believe I was actually capable of convincing myself, lying to myself, telling myself that I belonged in that world. The man that took me in, Jii-chan I called him for so long, decided he could live even after I told him my tale. He said a young girl would never become a demon. He smiled, saying sweet things of comfort, telling me to just be normal the way the world would accept but never change myself if it hurt me. He told me that he loved me no matter what. I was curious to who this man was. He was the first person I loved. No one else. Because he accepted me for who I was. That I was a mere weapon…

And I wished I was anything but…

* * *

"Where is he?" Yuu asked me. I closed my eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time and rubbed my eyelids with my fingers, trying desperately to answer without collapsing into hysteria. What happened that night…was the stuff of nightmares. I saw people screaming for God-knows-what. I didn't see any blood but those of us who was in that brawl with the seemingly hidden Devil's advocate escaped with a little more than scrapes and cuts. 

Sakura Mikan.

That name would forever haunt me till the day I died. Or until the day that I met her again and she willed herself to tell us her tale.

"In his room," I answered, my voice sounding horribly robotic and metallic to my own ears. "He hasn't left it since he got back." Which was three days ago. "I had to tell him. He had the right to know, anyway, he would have found out, one way or the other." It was like I was telling myself, convincing myself, that rather than I was telling Iinchou. I didn't want to believe that that night's pandemonium was actually the doing of Sakura Mikan.

"It's not your fault, Ruka," the ever-reliable Yuu assured me. "We'll find her. Don't worry about her. Worry about Natsume. What's he been eating lately?"

I scrunched up my face in concentration, trying to remember what, out of the massive plates of food I'd brought him, Natsume had eaten. I ticked them off my fingers one-by-one as I dictated them to Yuu. "Uh, a half a loaf of bread, a handful of Cheerios and…oh yeah, a breadstick. Not to mention he's downed like, about four dozen pots of coffee, non-decaf."

"We can't let him sink into that depression again," Yuu said, ever the wise one. "If he falls into it again, I don't know if we can pull him back. Mikan wouldn't want him that way when she comes back. We're going to have to find a way to convince the Academy to release us so that we can search for–"

The rest of Iinchou's words were drowned. Sakura Mikan. That name made my blood boil. It was always, 'Mikan this…' or 'Mikan, that…' or 'If Mikan were here…'. Were they obsessed or something? "Iinchou," I interjected. "Shut up! I don't care about her right now! Now, I'm more worried about Natsume! And you know what? Yeah, things would have been better. This wouldn't have happened if Sakura-fucking-Mikan had never--"

_THWACK! _

I never saw Iinchou rubbing his fists in frustration, now the slug he aimed at my jaw that sent me sprawling across the floor. I clutched my jaw in pain and started at the boy, once so timid and fair had sucker punched me when I badmouthed one of his friends. I saw the utter rage and disgust that replaced the once calm demeanor he seemed to give off naturally.

"Do you really think everything is Mikan's fault?" he demanded. "That she planned everything, all this out? That she knew that she could disrupt the whole world by a simple chaotic mess and running away? No. Did you think she could send Hyuuga and Hotaru into mind-boggling depressions by simply doing that? Because I don't think so. The Sakura Mikan I knew would never do any of that intentionally nor wish it on anyone." He breathed. "You were one of her best friends. You knew her like the open book she was. How could you doubt her, say that you don't know her?"

"Clearly none of us knew her!" I retorted.

Bad idea.

Yuu grabbed my collar and pulled me up from where I lay, stared at me long and hard, giving me the testimonial of his hatred for my accusations. "If you think that we completely missed the target of our interpretations, that we completely misread her, then go see Kokoroyomi," he snarled (!!!????). "He'll set you straight and tell you what you misread." Yuu shrugged me away and walked out of the room, a disgusted look marring his child-turned-trauma face.

What had I said?

Something, I don't know what, had replaced the cheerful air that little girl had given the Academy.

And I feared that it, this dark aura, was going to bring everything she'd struggled under her mask to build and give come tumbling down…

* * *

Dark raven hair swathed my face as the tears I'd let run for days dotted my cheeks. I lifted my head as I gazed out at the new dawn that came, just off the horizon. My incessant mind told me I didn't do anything wrong. But I knew my crime was apparent, transparent and easy to read. I had struggled to keep myself distant all these years, pushing her away but always keeping her close. But that affection went in the guise of hate and cruelty. And for that, I regretted. My door opened a little and I didn't bother lifting my eyes, knowing it would be either Iinchou or the 'otaku' sisters who would try to bring me out of my livid depression. It wasn't any use, given the fact that it was my fault. 

I felt a dead weight collapse on my bed. I looked up and, surprisingly, found myself staring into the face of one beaten Kokoroyomi. His face, still youthful, contorted and etched with dark bags, showed the face that had shown itself in volumes of pain he'd undergone in the three-day chaotic mess she'd left behind in her quake. His eyes, once so startlingly vibrant and full of life, were now bent and broken, its light missing, a blasé and empty look occupying his eyes. He was slumped, defeated and torn apart. Looking at him now, comparing him to the mind-reader he was once, I felt that I could now only imagine what the impact Mikan's memories had on him. Had they really been that horrendous?

"Hey, Hotaru?" he whispered, staring into his own hands, lost in the screams he heard in the cages of his mind where he could never escape from. "I talked to Ruka just a while ago."

"Why would Nogi interest me?" I croaked, my voice harsh and rough from lack of use and water. I'd heard Nogi's insufferable argument with Iinchou. Frankly, I was glad to see Iinchou slug him. He deserved it in my opinion. "What did the little bugger want? To badmouth and trash-talk Mikan to someone lese who hadn't heard what happened yet?"

"No," he whispered. He buried his face in his hands. "I'll tell you what happened. If you promise you'll look for her." I looked at him incredulously. "Never, never ever leave her alone if you can help it after what I tell you. The pain…she can't handle it alone. I don't know why I can feel emotion in those memories, let alone have those memories. It makes no sense but…it just happens. But…just promise me, Hotaru that you'll never leave her alone, never give up on her."

I nodded and he breathed heavily as though it were a burden. It was. The weight and responsibility of knowing what he did was overwhelming. I knew that even after knowing the past of Sakura Mikan, I would never be able to carry the burden everyday for the rest of my life like Yome Kokoro. Only share one tenth of it.

And that was a burden _I _had to carry.

* * *

"I don't know what I saw," I whispered again and again. The terror that gripped me was horrifying. The flashed that erupted from memory time and again was scaring me. Her memory was vivid, as if it had just happened again. It all started with that letter, informing god knows what, and it would forever remain like that as she had the letter destroyed as soon as the letter had seemingly shattered her life and existence. 

Ruka tried calming me down but I was incapable of that now. Knowing her impossible past, I let myself be pulled into an infinite realm of numbness I wanted to go on forever. But these were not only memories but they were also filled with emotions and screams, things I never thought possible to be heard or felt. The scream, the bloodcurdling shrill voice that haunted her everyday was in my mind too, giving me all she had felt for the past years. We were sixteen, and we were living a nightmare in our minds, the place we could never escape from. I whispered the words, mimicked them down to the last voice and octave, the words she'd thought and followed. The Sakura Mikan we knew, the girl with impermeable smile was a mere cover, a mask, a lie, nothing more than a shadow.

Every now and again, people would cuss their Alices, calling them a curse and murderous. Most of them spent their lives working for the Academy, never knowing what paradise or happiness was. Their lives were cut short because their Alices were of the Fourth Type; the parasitic power that shortened and killed them for using their powers. Right then, I felt like them, how they did, living a life of despair. I wished I'd never seen her dark shadows.

Then, I was glad.

The Sakura Mikan I knew now was now closer to me because I knew what happened at the back of her head. I knew now, she had an ally. The pain she had would be less painful now that someone understood and was there for her. Even if I could do nothing for her, I could be a friend for her, near or far. She had someone to lean on now, because seeing her demons, I couldn't judge her.

For someone so vividly cursed as she, there had to have been excellent skill to cover that emotion with its total opposite. Despair and hatred countered by happiness and faith. Happiness. That emotion seemed farfetched now. The hemorrhage of pain that had shaken her into insanity and fury had been overwhelming, an uproar of fear. I saw another memory relapse.

"Bodies," I heard myself whisper in the faintest way to Ruka, whom I'd told her tale out of pity, her training and pitiful past. Yuu, who'd been standing in the back, a glare at Ruka looked up with pity. "Everywhere. Blood and a…a…monster. No! That monster! It's me…No!!" The words I screamed were not mine. I was a mere microphone for the true speaker. Sakura Mikan. That name would forever haunt me. It spoke of demons and pain.

Evoking another scream from me was the face of her, when she'd walked away, right out of our lives. Empty and cold. Every injury, emotional and physical was living in her face. Nothing gave any clue to the girl that was like the Sun, lifting from the depths of depair.

That night, after relating to Ruka, all the memories flushed back into my mind, though I tried my hardest to dispose of them, I couldn't. it was like they were carved straight into the stone plate in my mind. I saw one of the many things that happened that night. The burning Sakura Tree, the heat starting from her white fire. The inferno quickly spread to the Eastern Forest. Ruka walked away, an unreadable expression on his face. I let myself drift to unconsciousness, hoping for the dreamless sleep that would never come.

* * *

"And…she was tortured," I explained lastly to Hotaru. "All the full memories I got was from the time when she was five till now. Not the time she spent with us. The backstage. What she truly did. In the time when she was in the village, when she wasn't with you, she saw in shadows, only comforted by her surrogate father, but he couldn't do much; to try and share the pain he knew he couldn't. I don't know the reason why she came here…but…I didn't…I only got slight flashes of her when she was younger. I saw she came because you drew her in, making her think she'd had a friend. She was, as far as I could tell, trained since he was two. In her head, I saw her saying, 'I'd learned to kill before I learnt to walk'. I don't know anything more than that." 

Hotaru was quiet. I looked up and noticed the teeniest of tiny smiles on her face as she said, "It's alright. The questions we ask may never be answered." I heard the quiet and intelligent voice of Imai Hotaru, genius inventor. The shadow of a gleam twinkled in her eyes. "The real, answerable question now, is who exactly is Sakura Mikan?"

That was true.

* * *

The man in the dark cloak sipped his tea with a gentlemanly flair. His plan, carefully etched and worked out for eleven years was come along fabulously. The lie he'd told that Sakura girl, as he had planned, lured her away and now, she ran free in the wilderness. The satisfaction was…delicious, just like his Jasmine tea. Now, all he had to do to get the cherry on the top was to get bait and drag her out of her little forest ways, out into the Sun. 

He'd get her and then, who knows? The government, the Academy, and country would be all his and would fall right into his hands. In the palm of his hand. Why stop at just Japan? Why not the whole world? Nevermind the attempts of others, especially those of the Academy to get her back. They'd maybe be foolish enough to send their little Black Cat. It'd go even smoother from there if it happened.

The prospects were endless. The wheels were turning and the plan was set in motion.

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**A/N: hello...me again...so...the man in the dark cloak? Guess...well..he's new..this story takes a whole turn as we introduce the person who's been using the AAO as a puppet and a cover-up for his own movement. His main asset was Mikan, who left in search for a better life. So read more on my profile! **

**Ja!**

**-Blase**


	3. Treading on Fire

**Harlow!! I'm back with chap 3...I dunno why but dis story isnt as popular as my other ones..nvm...haaha...I love writing for this fandom...its like addictive or something...Or maybe I'm just weird. I dunno why, when I read a really good story like Two Quarters and a Heart Down (which, by the way, i'm waiting for an update..) and SnowMirage...I just start crying. I'm a basketcase...But i discovered, to really advertise your story, you have to put it up on a weekend...haha...anywayz...this tale might be a bit drawn out...OK...so one with the story! **

**Haha...I forgot to tell ya'll that I have no exams so...yay! fun! **

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What would you think of me now,

So lucky, so strong, so proud?

I never said thank you for that.

Now I'll never have a chance

**May Angels Lead You In by Jimmy Eat World**

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**Chapte****r 3:Treading on Fire **

The glaring reality of the chaotic situation was met head-on by the onslaught of Alice students…or to be more specific, the Academy Student Council, The Special Ability Class and the former residents of Class B, minus one Hyuuga Natsume and Nogi Ruka. It was common knowledge, and so far the only trace of gossip the students could thrive on, that Hyuuga Natsume was mourning the loss of Sakura Mikan, aka, the person who stared the whole mess. They'd been close, so close that the matter was left at that, unfortunately for the fangirls who wished so badly for something exciting, starring their object of admiration and…obsession. And that sparked yet another rumour...so true, no one dared to ask him to ascertain.

He was in love with Sakura Mikan.

He had been for as long as anyone could remember.

But Nogi Ruka…he was a totally different story altogether. Rumours flew by in torrents, flocks and by the hour, at least seven theories had been concocted. Clearly, the rumour mill was in overdrive. Out of the seven, three seemed logical but one after the other kept spewing out more, the next more outrageous than the last.

Some squealed, 'He's in love with Sakura! When she left, he must have fallen into a depression like Natsume-dono!' This was of course…somewhat true…alright. Not exactly as of two years ago, but since no one who actually knew what happened bothered to say anything, it stayed in a speculation spotlight, and stayed a rumour.

Others, 'Must be jealousy! When Nogi-sama saw how much Natsume-dono showed sadness when Sakura ran away, his love fore Natsume must have been hurt! He loves Natsume-dono so much that he doesn't want to share him with anyone else!' This was the Yaoi theory. It not only created a HUGE epidemic, but it also incurred the wrath of the HN/NR fan-club president, Shouda Sumire. Not to mention the Moe explosion it created, making it into a particularly messy affair, much to the janitor's chagrin.

It continued, "I heard Nogi was slugged by Yuu! That was so radical man!" The author thinks you can guess which gender thought this theory, or spread this fact around but since it had next to zero relations to why these two were absent from the search committee, it was dissolved within the day. But, the theories continued, getting wilder and way out of hand, faster than they were made up.

Imai Hotaru, refreshed but still dented in many places, couldn't care less for the woes and whims of Nogi Ruka. He'd come sooner or later to help, most likely the former. The blithe pain of just sitting would be too much for him to handle. He'd come on his own pretences. He cared about Mikan just as much and would help out to his full power. Imai was sure of that but she knew he cared too much. Too much until he let his frustration get the better of him. Until he was contented to just mouth off Mikan to anyone who would listen. So, Imai Hotaru could rest easy with Nogi Ruka. She went straight to the neediest person in the Academy, his personality of late, pissing her off like crazy.

_Hyuuga Natsume. _

--,--,--,--,--,

I stared far into the darkness, beyond the plain midnight sky. It went on forever, all the sunshine having disappeared for what seemed like an era ago. How could I have been so careless? Everything I ever hoped, or dared to have, to hold, to cherish was ripped away from me on the one night I wasn't there to protect what was mine. The one night I couldn't perform the duties I was trusted with when I wanted to for the first time. I let everything I loved slip through my fingers. If only Persona hadn't assigned me on that blasted mission! I could've somehow stopped everything! Saved her from the self oblivion she'd created and run towards.

Again and again, I berated myself. I buried my face in my hands, praying, wishing, wanting for sleep to carry me away from reality. I whispered denials in my mind, trying to convince myself that it wasn't my fault. But my inner demons, not my own conscience would hear of it. As I struggled to find peace in the dark corner of my mind, I felt a presence, hauntingly familiar outside my room. The shadow shifted and picked at the lock of my door. I cursed at the intrusion of privacy.

In a minute, the door was thrown open, and the sunlight filtered in through the entrance. The silhouette was cut out in the light, clearly a girl, darkened the shock the white light had given me. The determined face of the Inventing Alice, Imai Hotaru, was a sight to behold. She strode in, as if she didn't care what he thought, and she didn't, shut the door and shoved away the curtains, letting whatever sunshine, which was a lot, enter the dark, dark room.

"Welcome," I said, annoyed that she had the guts to do only what Mikan had done. The fact remained that Imai Hotaru was the only person in the Academy that he respected, purely and solely because she scared him, and he would probably end up in a hospital bed if he tried to hurt her. "What the hell do you want, Imai? I'm kinda busy."

"With what?" she retorted, in her ever cool, I-am-holier-than-thou voice. "Your inconsistent mourning for something you could never change? I want you. I want you to get your ass out of this pointless depression, get your butt down to that meeting room and help us find her!"

"Ever give a thought, that if she could be found, then maybe she wouldn't have run away?" I snapped. "Maybe, she ran because she knew she couldn't be found! Ever thought of that Imai?"

"No."

"See?"

She looked at me with cold, steely violet yes, the effect of the colour made it all the more scarier to look at her. "I never thought of that because, the Mikan would never do that to us. Even if she did run away, she did because of a reason. I don't know what that details are…but I know, whatever Mikan did, it was to protect us."

She aimed her Baka gun at me. "So are you going to come and help us?"

"If I refuse?" I argued, again, after her speech. "What if I outright saw no?"

_BAKA! _

"I'd do that." She heaved a sigh, defeated, not wanting to waste her breath. "Even of you don't want to, you should. You should get out of this vulgar display of your tantrum, and help us search for her."

"Why?!"

"Because Mikan would have done the same for you." And she walked out, ;eabing me with myself and choices that were impossible to choose. I closed the door and didn't let my tears fall. I didn't want to cry. So I wallowed in the knowledge that I might wind up alone forever if I didn't go after her. So I swayed myself in despair.

--,--,--,--,--,

He walked about the floor. He was just gathering his thoughts regarding his dispossessed project Haemorrhage. The bait was set. Soon enough, the plans that's been set in motion would reach its appointed use. Everything they'd planned since she ran away would be the foundation of their new era.

The Haemorrhage Era.

He liked the sound of that…

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**A/N: This is probably a seriously short chapter, compared to my chapter 2...but i sincerely hope lotsa people will read this story and enjoy it...In the next few chapters, I am focusing on how Mikan is doin on her way south...haha...sounds liked fun to me...cya for now! **


	4. Scenes of Yesterday

**Right...So lets get down to it...This part of the story is about the past. Everything italic-ed is the flashbacks and the bold-italic words are the thoughts in the flashbacks...Ok...this chapter is hopefull long enough and will hope you like it lots...I put in a lot of time into this...after I finish this, im thinking of posting the sequel to 'A Thousand Years With You' but that's another bridge we'll cross when we get there ok? Haha...right...**

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I learned from you that I do not crumble  
_

_I learned that strength is something you choose  
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_All of the reasons to keep on believin'  
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_There's no question, that's a lesson, that I learned from you_

I Learned From You by Miley Cyrus

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**Chapter 4: Scenes of Yesterday**

He's back, was all I could say. I watched him debate like a professional with the Student Council president, Aki Tsukaima, over the issue at hand. The faculty had deemed the cause unworthy (according to Jinno, at least) but nevertheless, the headmasters had approved of their campaign. The teachers-not including Jinno-had passed them a message from the headmasters (who for some obscene reason were never around). "The matter is in your hands," Narumi-sensei dictated. "Make up a plan, smart and effective and safe, send us the schematics…and pray we like it." So make a plan we did.

Or at least…we were trying to.

Okay, we were arguing over whose plan was better. Actually…it was just Aki and Natsume arguing. Aki and the Council insisted that they let the enemy come to us, we wait and if they have her, we get her back. They said it was the safest way, but Natsume begged to differ. Apparently, he called it an 'inane waste of time and patience'. Natsume's argument however, backed by some of us former Class B residents (mostly the girls and some boys who thought he was cool) was reckless and Natsume-y, and it went something like this…

"Who are 'they'?" he demanded. "There is no 'they'! All we want is the idiot back! (In most of our minds…okay, all of our group's members thought, '_**Your**__ idiot'_) We're not trying to bring the AAO down single-handedly…just bringing back a girl! Christ! Just send me. I've done these rescue missions so many times, I could do this in my sleep! I'll find that baka."

"But this time, we don't have any clue to her whereabouts!" Aki retorted. "It's a trap. Jan-uh, no, whatever is out there, whoever wants Sakura, is watching us. One wrong move, and we risk putting her in more danger. They'd just take you and use you as a bargaining tool!" Natsume just folded his arms and glared, leaning against the wall. Aki rubbed his eyelids with his fingers before turning to me. "What do you think?"

I took off my glasses and wiped them with my shirt. A long time ago, I would have wiped them with the handkerchief I had always painstakingly carried around with me. But I'd thrown away that handkerchief away a long time ago along with my pushover attitude. I was now far more carefree (according to Mikan, at least) and loose at the ends, exchanging the nice-boy for a windswept-I'm-just-a-teenager look. "I think, you, the Student Council and Hyuuga and the rest of Class B should listen to what we have to say."

"'We'?"

I gestured to the group behind me, all of our group who were seated on couches, lounging serenely as we watched the Council president and Natsume engage in a debate of epic (?) proportions. Our group consisted of our own group who'd always been closest with Mikan… Some of us were doubtful if we'd ever convince them, let alone get a word in edgewise.

Hotaru…

Ruka (newly humbled)…

Anna…

Nonoko…

Kokoro Yome…

Mochu…

Sumire (OMG!)…

Myself…

We made up this little pack who'd always been standing beside Mikan when she needed us most. We knew Mikan best and would never give her up without a fight. Hotaru stood up. "We think we should stay put." Aki shot a look triumph at Natsume. "But," she continued, "We'll also send a rescue party." Hyuuga smiled…more like grimaced/smirked. "Most of us will be staying here in the Academy to conduct all the Technical bits. We'll of course have to send Hyuuga or he'll throw a hissy fit. But the group we send will also consist of Koko, he has every right to go, Iinchou , Nogi and myself. And also…" She looked around the room when she paused. We knew the last name would be heavy on everyone. We made this decision because we knew none of us had experience that matched Hyuuga. "…Persona."

All eyes, besides our group who looked as though Hotaru had just said something normal, swivelled to look at Hotaru, Hyuuga's ablaze with hatred. "We've convinced him that Mikan is a better asset fighting for the Academy, our side. We won't actually let him have her but that's a kink we'll figure out later." Aki and the Council seemed to agree. Hotaru nodded at me, knowing the consequences of this pact with the Devil Incarnate. It was smart but of course we knew someone would disagree…really disagree.

A hand slammed down on the table. Hyuuga Natsume glared with utter malevolence, anger rising in his irises, the devil's own fury in the young teenage boy.

"No!" he snarled, a snarl that would send even grown men to the grave. " We are not agreeing to this. If you entrust this to Persona, hell will be our neighbour. I don't want him anywhere near this case. He's tried getting to her for four years and I will not let him anywhere near us. You can't send the others either. Just send me. I'm more than qualified to fight them. I've taken down more AAO parties than I can count. I can get her before they do."

"Who do you think 'they' are?" Aki asked quietly. All heads turned to look at him. He looked at him questioningly, a sort of you-don't-know-what-we're-really-facing-here-Hyuuga look in his bronze irises. "Tell me, Hyuuga. Who?"

"Where have you been for the past years you've been here? I recall you were admitted into the Academy at seven, into the Dangerous Class at eight! Where have you been? Under a rock? The AAO of course!"

Aki turned to the Student Council's six members. He looked at them with an emotion I couldn't read, a sort of maybe look. Two, Imura and Tadahara shook their heads in denial, telling him he couldn't do something that might jeopardize their safety and position, saying no to some unasked question. The other four, Kenta, Ayaka, Hinata and Koyama nodded in silent agreement. The vote was unanimous. The pact and secret was broken, the truth was coming out.

I felt like we were going to be told a secret so big, no one lower than the Student Council board comprising of these seven figureheads would know. It was like _The Da Vinci Code_ big. It had the power, could and would shake the foundations of the lies we were told to the very bones, so that when we heard this, no one would ever know the difference of black and white. Aki looked at Hinata first. The silver-haired boy nodded and lifted a hand. A sort of sonic wave seemed to go out, freezing everyone but myself, Hotaru, Hyuuga, Nogi, Koko and the Board Members.

Then the Student Council president turned to look me in the eye with his eyes which held a past of unexpected turns. "Yuu, has anyone ever told you about my Alice? Or why the Council was only ever made up of these six of us?"

I shook my head. "No. All I've ever heard were always rumours, never true. The most plausible ones were that it is of the Fourth Type and you use it only for emergencies."

"Right. All of that isn't true. I'm of the Second Type. But…with conditions. I am allowed limitless use of it but for a limit of people I can use it on. That's why, there are seven of us and no more. The reason no one knows what it is, is because the secret would compromise the safety of the Janus project board members." He waved his hand and all seven of them warped into older versions of themselves. "It's time we told you the bigger truth."

He sat down in obvious exhaustion and let his second-in-command, Koyama Tabaragi take over. He looked at us, his face, far more chiselled and wiser than his former childish face, with a sort of respect. "Did you ever think that maybe…just maybe the Anti-Alice Organisation was created for a more crude purpose? As just a simple cover-up for the real truth? It's true. The AAO is just as mere puppet."

"They were established under the name of the AAO to hide the real truth," Ayaka Kurasaki continued. "Only a handful of people know about them, know what they really are. They were created by an evil that lived under one name, containing over a hundred thousand members. More than Alices, more than humans."

"They were made for the sole purpose of dominating the world," Aki said. He stood and moved to the window, gazing out to god-knows-what. He exchanged glances with the other adults. "They went under the name…" He paused again, as though he didn't want this to come out, as though this secret was more precious than anything in the world."

"…Janus."

--,--,--,--,

I sat on the cliff, remembering the tales so often told by my dead first trainer, Fujimiura. The dark sky was no different than day to me I stared out as I recalled the man, the Devil Incarnate himself who so thought himself a god. Delusional, I sometimes thought.

Janus. The two-faced Greek god of beginnings and endings. Funny…that person was so…metaphorical. He considered himself the Alpha and Omega. Naming his agency, his army the one thing he considered himself. I wanted to laugh in his face, tell him he was crazy. Wanted to…didn't dare to for fear of my life.

He was cause of my suffering. The cause of the training. Practically since birth, he put me through rigorous and painful training, making me go to the peak of my potential and the point where I basically acted as though what I did was what a normal human did everyday. He was, though I mocked him in my mind, a man with the powers of a God. Not an Alice. Just…raw power. Nevertheless, he was still human. I'd proven that. But he wouldn't be easy to kill. Far from it.

He'd created the AAO and attached puppet strings to them. He'd played all the cards he had to their full extent. There was always one card he always had in hand; the Ace of Spades. Always, he would win. But there were ways to bring him down. After all, he was still human.

**Flashback**

_The blur of the world was all I saw. I ran with the lightning speed I'd acquired after the ruthless training I'd was put through like a dog. I was four and I had a vendetta. With my knife in my hand, I made myself remember all that he'd taught me. The ways to kill the so-called immortal, he had said. I knew it was the only skill that would kill him. I crept in the darkened room. I traced my trained eyes around the room and searched for his ghostly presence. A month of training had heightened my raw senses. They said I was too young…but I had talent. Too much talent, one trainer once said. But that talent got me into his tutelage. _

_I found his eyes staring at me, dark black, but also deep red that scared me. I attacked him. He didn't know he trained me well. So well, I could've taken him down…if I had put in even more effort or more power, I might have critically wounded him…but I only cut his arm…and I knew he was human. He bled not gold liquid as rumoured by the red blood of a mortal. _

_I swung my wrist around, and tried to stab his heart, the place where everything would stop. He stopped it and twisted my arm round in a full circle. I grunted and use the strength in my tiny body to bring his body over my back, in hopes of pinning him to the ground and stabbing him. But when he turned over in a flip, I in turn went down in a second flip, causing myself to be thrown onto the floor. He held the knife to my cheek and brushed the blade up and down the skin, blood welling up on the slight scar. _

"_Never try to wound me," the hoarse voice came. "I will make you regret ever trying such a stupid thing if you ever do."_

**End of Flashback**

That day, after I was released, they flogged me three hundred times. The scars of that night, forever reminding me of the past, of the shadows I could never run away from. The memories still echoed hauntingly in my mind. I was always…always reminded that the scars would fade but never disappear. I closed my eyes and remembered the pain when the whip hit my skin at every moment. Three hundred scars marred my skin. I'd never shown anyone my pain, the hidden scars of yesterday, I went to great lengths to hide.

Again…I drifted to Janus…

Janus…

The two faced Greek god of gates…

The perfect metaphor for them. The two-faced backstabbing operatives they were, their true faces were hidden until their mission was complete or until they were ordered to. Their acting skills were the stuff of legends, their legacy tracing back to the eighteen hundreds, living their facades like a myth, no one ever truly believing they existed unless they were the operatives themselves.

I was one of them and apparently the top candidate to inheriting the head position. Before I ran away that is. It was rumoured, I heard once while sneaking around the Student Council hall, that I was, they called me Haemorrhage then, on the Janus blacklist, whose residents you could count on all ten fingers. I felt then that it was an honour. But now, it was a just a grade-A nuisance.

I breathed hard. The wind had stopped blowing a while back and I was out of energy again. I lay on the leaf-covered ground. Staring up at the sky. With no water, it'd take at least four hours to gain back my energy. I closed my eyes and when my eyes opened again, I met with the star-spangled sky. Everywhere, I saw familiar constellations and the tales made about them. I saw Orion, the hunter, the river Eridanus, his dogs, Canis Major and Canis Minor and Taurus, the bull, along with the rest of them.

**Flashback**

_Snow…_

_The flakes of snow drifted to the ground. I stared at the sky as the frozen rain came down softly, dotting my face with their cold droplets. I saw the red embers of blood that shot the white, white ground with colour. I thought everything would end there. Hanai found me that night. Our midnight battle had knocked more than half of me out. I killed him, of course, but I'd taken serious hits, critical to my life._

_I was only five, turning six next month…and I'd killed another man. If I ever live through this, I thought as the life slowly ebbed away from me, I swear I will not kill another human ever again. I won't ever use the powers I have. I swear I won't. I closed my eyes and prayed this over and over again. Then, I heard weeping. I opened them slowly and saw a woman crouching in the snow, a little off ways. She held a small bundle in her arms. She opened up the ground, small drops of salt water dropping from her face. She lay the bundle in the ground and closed the hole._

_I knew what she hid in that bundle. I cried with her, sobbing for the lost life, knowing it lived for such a short time. I cried for the sake of that mother. I sobbed and she turned to see my face. I saw the shock that registered in her face. She ran to me and touched my face. "Who are you?" I heard._

_"I don't have…a name," I croaked, the blood-loss beginning to cloud my mind. "They call me…urgh, Haemorrhage." Her eyes widened as though she knew who I was. "Where am I?"_

_"Nagoya," she replied. "What are you doing here?" I kept silent. She smiled a little and brought out a moss green stone, which I found out later was an Alice stone. "You look like my child. So…I'm going to give you a name. You'll now be Sakura Mikan, daughter of Azumi Yuka. Can you keep the secret of my name?" I nodded. "Good." She pressed the stone to my wound. I felt a sting of slight pain and then, a refreshing jolt of calm wash over me._

_I sat up and the wound was fresh and clean. I looked at Azumi-san's face and saw slight exhaustion in her young face. "Why?" I asked._

_She smiled. "I actually don't know. But…I feel like it's the right thing to do." She stood and brushed the snow from her light brown coat. "You look just like how I imagined Mikan would look like." My face fell a little. She smiled. "But you have a pretty face too. Come, you're going to be living with my father."_

_I looked at her. "I'm not living with you?"_

_"No," she said, looking away. "I was leaving Mikan with my father. My life is too…complicated for her to be living in it. So, this is best for her." I smiled and she returned it. I squeezed her hand as she walked through the snow with me._

_We stopped at a house near the edge of the village in Nagoya. Azumi-san, or Mom she asked me to call her, was hesitating. "Is something wrong?" I asked. She looked at me. "Hem-no, Mikan, dear. I have to make you promise me you'll be good okay? Listen to what grandpa says…and don't tell him you know my name. He's not exactly related to me and doesn't…know me anymore. So…be a dear alright? Promise?"_

_I nodded and she touched my forehead. Instantly, my world swam._

**End of Flashback**

I remembered the kindness of Azumi-san and the utter envy I felt towards that child, the one who had my name. I woke to find myself in the care of Azumi-san's 'father's care. He smiled and I went on. At five, I was small, so small, I posed no threat to my past as I lied my way. But he treated me as though he knew me all my life. Then, I met Ho-chan-sama.

I smiled at the memories. They were fond and I loved them. Four hours I rested and remembered memories. As my energy was replenished, I let myself fall into a dreamless sleep. But no matter how deep the sleep, I always remembered to be alert. My eyes flew open when I heard a rustle from the bushes nearby. I put myself on edge and shot to my feet. I'd hadn't quite energy but eighty percent would have to be enough.

A presence, familiar and yet not, echoed everywhere. Then he appeared. I stood four feet away from the Janus lackey that strode out of the brush. His face was bony, sort of like a weasel and some unreadable emotion was reflected in the grey of his eyes. "Sakura," was all he managed to say before pure instinct and rage of the years of hiding flared out in me. I attacked him with my full body weight and he was pinned to a tree in a split second. "Hi."

I tightened the hold I had on his throat, limiting his breathing capacity for the moment. "What are you doing here, Ariyoku?" I snapped. "Are you here to drag me back to Janus? Are you? I'm never going back." I hovered a flame near his face.

It wasn't all that long ago that I'd learned to master my second Alice. That aspect of my life scared me. It really did. But because of that second Alice… the value of my abilities went up a third and I rose in value on the bounty hunter list. They said the Black Cat, or Natsume as I knew him, was on the top of the underworld blacklist. But they didn't know there was one more position, higher and far more dangerous than any of them could be. It's been there since I was three.

Haemorrhage.

"Sakura," he said, "calm down. I'm here to help. I laughed. He was always ridiculing me all those years ago when I beat him, a twelve year old getting his ass kicked by a four year old. He was the laughing stock of Janus and. "I'm serious. I tried…the path you chose. Freedom…laughter…when you chose to throw everything you learned from Janus, earning yourself a place on their blacklist, I thought you were crazy. Then…I realized what you had was refreshing…happy. So, when I heard you were on the lose, I came to warn me." Maki Kurano was actually trying to help me?

"No thanks," I said, dropping him. "I don't need anyone's help. I've had enough of giving away unappreciated and undeserved trust. So…see you." I began to walk away. "Have a nice life, Maki. Just stay out of my way and don't meddle in my affairs."

I was about to disappear into the forest's shadows until I heard his call out. "Sakura! Wait!" I huffed in annoyance and turned, frustrated and ready to kick his butt. "Just…be careful and don't go anywhere near Nagoya. They've got that place held up tighter than Fort Knox. And…don't go fishing for bait." Perplexed, I looked at him, defeated and disappointed. I let myself soften a little. I muttered thanks and set off in my lightning run, south to Okinawa.

--,--,--,--,

Night took over the day's job as I sat on the tiles of his dorm house. I mused over what he learned today. Was Sakura Mikan really what we thought impossible? Was she really this assassin I'd heard was only a legend? The portraits a survivor from a Haemorrhage attack painted her face covered in shadows. It was clearly a girl with the flowing hair but no one would ever realise those eyes were chocolate brown.

Her secrets were numerous. Everything hidden from me.

**Flashback**

_"Neh, Natsume-kun?"_

_"What is it, Polka?" I grunted. We were sitting in contrast; one high in the branches of a cherry blossom tree, the other lazing on the soft green grass down below. It was one of our memories of when we were fourteen. We'd been abandoned by Ruka, who was hunting down Hotaru, Mochu, Koko and Yuu were battling over who had more of a chance to out-cool Ruka and I (Yuu taking the referee post) and the 'otaku' sisters and Sumire who were...getting a face-lift, according to Sumire. _

_So it was just the two of us._

_"Would you ever keep a secret from me?"_

_"Don't I already?" _

_She smiled in a quiet sadness he missed. In an instant, her usual smile plastered onto her face. "You know, I was once told, we have to keep secrets," she said. I opened my mouth the return a witty comment but she beat me to it. "Those secrets, they are to protect those we truly care about. So, can someone truly accuse and ridicule someone for keeping a secret from them, when that secret was the one thing that was protecting them from seeing what they shouldn't?" She was still smiling, but tiny droplets of tears were streaking down her face. I didn't think she was aware I could see her face. But she callously threw them away like they were digusting, something she hated. _

_"Polka, what are you trying to say?" I intended to drawl out but she'd shot to her feet already. _

_"Hey, Natsume," she said brightly as though her little episode never happened. "Would you accompany me to Central Town?" _

_I looked at her curiously. I probed the depths of her eyes, looking for the sadness and pain that had echoed deeply in her words. But I couldn't see them, only the pure innocence and light that shone. I didn't know if that was just my imagination or if it was real. But I didn't care now. "Whatever, Polka." _

**_I love you too..._**

**End of Flashback**

"Hyuuga," I heard. I turned and found myself staring into the impassive face of one Imai Hotaru. You couldn't see a trace of emotion on that doll-like but in her eyes, you could see all the hurt in the world. She sat next to me. "Snap out of it." I looked at her curiously. "You may not believe it, but I didn't know either. I didn't know what...she was. I didn't know. So stop beating yourself up for not knowing. You're an idiot for doing so."

"What are you trying to say?"

She looked at me, one eyebrow raised as though I was questioning her intelligence. "You have a serious case of denial. You're saying you never cared about her. You're saying the thought of both of you being together. If you say that, I'd punch you to Mars for lying."

"I never imagined a future with her in it. I thought it was dangerous for her to be mixed in my life. But I never knew it would be the other way round. I'm going to say this. I cared because I considered her as my friend. I protect my friends and I will never let anyone, not you, not Ruka, not anyone, down, so long as I can help it. I sold my soul to the Academy to make sure none of you ever have to see darkness. So, I won't be mixed up with some girl."

"But Mikan isn't some girl, now is she? She's stronger than any of us know. Or ever will know. You heard what Koko knows. She's been training since she was younger than you when you started missions! By two, she could kill a panther! That is impossible! But although she lied to us, I still trust her." Her voice had steadily risen in octave and anger. Then, it simmered down to the quiet voice of Imai Hotaru. "I'm going to bring her home, to where we can protect her."

I buried my face in my hands. "Tell me one answer, Imai and I'll help you with this dippity-do plan. Why am I so guilty of not trying to help her even if I don't want to?"

She stood and walked towards her flying duck which stood waiting nearby. She chuckled a she strapped on her helmet. "I thought you were a genius, Hyuuga. The answer is so simple." I stared as she drove off as her answer struck me. It was simple…yet so complicated.

_You're in love with her, Hyuuga. _

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_**A/N: AH!!! it feels so refreshing!Everything is falling into place and nice...next is the chapter where the bait is cast..then who knows wat might happen!! ah! oh well...me gotta go! over and out!**


	5. Judgement

**hey! ok...I dont care...muahah! I think this chap is pretty short so sorry.Not many people read it so itz ok but I reali loved little this chap! Haha! I love this chap to bits and in the next chap, Natsume gets kidnapped and well, i'll figure the rest out later! haha...right...cya! **

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_

_I look up at the blurry sky _

_So that my tears don't overflow _

_Why can't people live _

_As they want to? _

_A weak heart that's unable to cry _

_Doesn't need the strength to keep from crying _

_I look for a shooting star _

_To place my wish on _

_But the dawn comes too soon _

_And I'm unable to find one_

Hanabi by Ayumi Hamasaki

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**Chapter 5: Judgment**

The gates opened as the group of six walked out. I, Persona, towered over the midgets of sixteen, the only one that was nearly as tall as me was Natsume-chan. They thought they could bring that Sakura child back. That Hyuuga brat was the worst of them. He was cocky, thinking he could topple Janus single-handedly. I thought I taught him to be smarter than this. Guess I was wrong.

No one, and I mean no one, would last a second with that organization if they didn't know the secret weakness of the gods that few knew. I knew, it was my business to know of course, that that Sakura knew that secret, been confided in with the one way of defeating the immortal; even after she immaculately hid her true self. Once you knew that method, a curse and a blessing in its own way, it scarred you for life. I was graced to know that the infamous Imai and Tobita knew well enough that without me, they'd fail, hands down. But my dear Natsume-chan was whole other story. Ah well…

Six years passed since that little nullifying child waltzed into the Academy, seemingly under the guise of searching for her best friend. But I knew, from the moment I met her, one that day when I saw Natsume-chan take an interest in another person, a girl of all people, that she was dangerous. The look in her eyes, wild and hidden under layers of blank stares and empty emotions, resembled what Natsume-chan's used to look like. I thought I'd seen her face before.

And I remembered, reaching deep into the memories I'd lived for more than anyone would know, that night twelve years ago. That night haunted even me.

**Flashback**

_Bursts of artificial sunshine lit the courtyard. I walked about, searching for the information based on the Janus war. Everything the Academy had ever fought for started with this; Janus. I skulked around as Alice users, hundreds of them, pitted their powers against the might of the Janus operatives, all in all counted eighty of them. But the battle looked as though it had been planned._

_I wasn't here for the battle. No. I was here to find the secret to killing immortals. Then I saw it. In the midst of the battle, a figure, small and slim stood, a katana, bloodied and stained red, in hand. Her eyes, were shadowed, no color able to be seen. She didn't seem to see me but I saw her. I saw the reluctant bloodlust in her eyes. I didn't stick around for her turn those eyes to me._

_I left and announced the mission a failure_.

**End of Flashback**

I would never forget that night.

Ever…

--,--,--,--,

Roughly, I swept through the brush. The Janus headquarters gleamed a cool silver in the moonlight. Behind me, Imai and Persona were discussing their plan, hands traveling over the interactive touchpad the inventor had brought with her, picking and placing various schematics over and over again. Ruka was one a green patch of mossy ground, Usagi wriggling about in his lap. I didn't see Koko about but I knew he would be back soon. It'd been like this for three days. Ruka was quietly in the back ground, a sea of calm amidst a storm of worry, Persona and Imai huddling to find an answer to their prayers, Koko wandering off to ponder the mysteries he'd seen and me…raging in anguish.

I felt something blow from the wind, into my heart, as though the whispering air was telling me a secret; foreboding and alerting, something I usually didn't feel until I was surrounded by enemies when on a mission. The secret was right in front of me…but I couldn't see it. I scanned the clearing near the glass building carefully, searching for other human auras. Nothing was there. Still, that ominous feeling of being watched hung heavily in the atmosphere.

I had had it. I couldn't 'be patient' as Imai had ordered me to. It just wasn't my nature. "Why are we just sitting around when we should be tracking her down?" I growled, glaring at the two schemers with fiery intensity. "Why are we here? This plan is worse than what Aki idiot came up with. She'd never settle in one place, being chased and all. Every trained soldier would know that by settling down, you're a sitting duck."

"Oh," Persona mocked. "You do listen to my lessons from time to time."

I glared at him, baring my teeth. I wanted to rip this man apart. "Because, Hyuuga," Imai's sharp voice pierced the tension Persona's comment had created, her expression annoyed and discontented. Calm as well. Damn, was she ever anything else but? "She's not here." Persona slapped his face in his hand, frustration concerted in that one action. He clearly did not mean for that piece of information to come out so…casually. And it had the obvious (and undecidedly wanted) effect. I basically snapped.

That definitely did it.

"WHAT?!" I shouted. "What do you mean by, 'she's not here'? She has to be! We took all this time, all two days to get to freaking Nagoya to find that she's not here? This is ridiculous! What are you playing at Imai? I knew I should have gone at this alone!"

"Natsume-chan," Persona chided. I narrowed my eyes at him for the use of the suffix; ridiculous and indirectly insulting. "The things love does to you." He sighed pityingly his evil smirk evident as the mask he wore covered only the top part of his face. "It's so gallant yet…horribly pathetic."

"I'm not in love with her," I snapped. Koko, just returned from his wanderings, looked at me curiously with a sort of…disappointed look in his eyes. I'd seen too much of that light in his eyes of late. I dropped onto the mossy ground and folded my arms in defiance. "The Academy charged me with the duty of protecting for eight years. I did that for that number of years now. When something goes wrong, something goes missing, I lose a little more of what I am protecting. I lose a little more of Aoi."

Persona glanced at me, his eyes contorted in that evil pity. His eyes seemed to say, _are you really that desperate for an excuse?_ "Did you forget, Natsume-chan? We let her go, remember? That excuse is no longer valid." I remembered alright, prayed that he didn't, that he'd wipe the memory of that loss away. The day I watched Aoi and our artist father walk away from the horrific life of the Academy was a day I counted as a triumph. But I stayed. I wanted to protect her. Always…

"Anyway," Imai interjected. "We don't have the information we need to find her. The best bet we have of finding her is to go into that building and grab what we need."

In that building…

Into the gaping mouth of a dragon…

That was much better…

--,--,--,--,

The man clothed in black, once again sipped his tea. Ah, Earl Grey; it was soothing to his soul as the perfect embodiment as a Brit, which he was not. His flair though, as always, was that of a gentlemen and would never fail to distinguish him as one who was raised diligently. But he wasn't. He was dropped in the slums of the slums. He was orphaned and raised in dirt. But his evil ambitions brought him to a throne. Yet, to him, nothing was more important. Nothing was more important than to keep himself the perfect epitome of a gentlemen. Nothing.

Now, he shod off just a little of that second nature habit of calm, his glee and malice showing its true colors. Everything had fallen into place as he would them, the puzzle in the palm of his hand, becoming easier with grace; the almost unexpected more had been made, simplifying his problem. He smiled inwardly, careful not to show any sign that he possessed emotion…happy emotion to his guest. As always, he was hidden in his shadows, no face or eyes seen. His guest, resident Janus agent, known for having as Alice to see intruders and friends alike, his visions appearing in the murky glass of a crystal. He saw past, present and rarely, the possible future. His name, Miura Nakazato had one of the most coveted positions…well, two or three places down from Sakura, at least.

The gentleman watched in disgust as the man downed another cup, his third, of coffee. He'd never understand why those of youth did not enjoy the health and joy tea offered. It lengthened life, not that he needed to, and the betterment of life the drink gave. Coffee was a bitter, putrid, inferior and filled with toxins that killed the system, added with the fact like it looked like sewer muck. But that wasn't his problem. Let them worry about their own lives. He'd never die. Unless Sakura got to him first. No matter. She'd be his again. Just a matter of time.

"Ah, Persona," he said, his voice evil, slick with intentions of damnation. "It's pleasant to see you again. A real, bloody honor." The movement of pictures in the crystal gave him more reason to smile brighter. "You've fallen right into my trap and you don't even know it yet, you cockroach. You're not of much leverage, being so old and all. Dyed hair? How tacky! But you, my pet, you will be of much use to your own undoing and Sakura's as well," he snarled as his long, poisonous nail traced the head of dark ebony-blue hair. "You may leave, Miura.

--,--,--,--,

The seer dashed down the hall and out of the building. The boy darted to a nearby fountain and there, he pulled out his hidden walkie-talkie. "Maki!" he whispered urgently into the speaker. "Are you there?"

"Yes," the worried voice replied. "Are you safe?"

"Yes," Miura said. "I've news. The bait as been set and the string cast. Their on their way to capturing the fish. Where is she? I'll go after her. They'll never know it if I return within a fortnight."

"Right," the voice answered. "She's down south in Okinawa. The old village of Senya Yuki where she once said she had a base. Go and warn her. I'll see what I can dig up with the others and if I can help them. Can you handle it?"

"Yes! Over and out!"

--,--,--,--,

Everything slowed down to a crawl. The eager, feverish planning became calm and haunting. The intense and fury was at peace with itself, glimmering with serenity. The worried strengthened to give assistance to those who needed it. The sorrowful and hurt focused and soothed his sadness.

A young soul, wounded and trained since birth walked the path of forced freedom. She held her arms tightly around her, trying in vain to banish the thoughts of the past from her memory. Every hug, every kiss, every laugh, smile, tear, every goddamned blasted memory she wanted wiped…yet she wanted to keep them. To etch them in stone.

Contradictory…

Together, they walked…into a trap.

--,--,--,--,

Every night, I remembered what I had done, what I did during the missions, who I'd killed. I had ended thousands of lives, cut their threads of life. Then, I'd pray. I prayed that their broken souls, shattered and tortured, would find peace and mercy everlasting life. I'd pray for redemption, retribution and forgiveness. For as long as I could remember, this was how I lived my life. And at times, I was punished by my Alice for the occasional mercy I showed. Jolts of pain would spasm cruelly through me, shaking me, depleting me of my energy.

Then she came.

Smiling sunshine and beaming happiness, she came like a whirlwind into my life. Everything she was, was everything I was not. Then, her Alice saved me from my own darkness. Her Alice stone, the only one she'd ever made, due to the lack of strength, return the control over my Alice, the pure power, to my hands; the reins that were slipping from my grasp was returned.

I hated her smile…loved her for it. Everything she was…everything that I wasn't…I loved her for that. I loved that she brought me out of darkness. I loved that she made me smile and laugh. I loved that she saw past the dark mask that I wore and saw me. I loved that…she loved me. So, if I loved all these things about her, why couldn't I love her?

Or maybe I did?

I brushed these thoughts away and returned to the world of reality. In reality, Imai and Persona were handing out weapons to Koko and Ruka. I only needed my slight dagger. Everything about me was a weapon. I was a human…disguised a weapon. So, we moved on. I was ordered to the west wing of the building. I started walking through the hallways of dark and that sense of foreboding became stronger. Someone was watching me.

"Are you really that idiotic?" I looked up and a boy around my age, brown-gold hair and plain brown eyes. I decided he was plain and not worth my time. I took a battle stance but he, seriously to my surprise, held up a hand as if in peace. "Wait! Hyuuga right? Right. We need to get you out of here. They're planning something. My…other operatives have gotten to your other friends and they're back outside. You're the last."

"What are you talking about?"

His face paled. "You have no idea what you're caught up in do you? The danger you've caught yourself up in? Oh my God, I swear, I don't know what Sakura was doing trying to involve herself in a 'normal life'. Oh right, I forgot. Name's Maki Kurasaki. Apparently you're that Hyuuga kid right?"

"Kid?"

"Yeah. I'm about eight years older than you?"

"Right. I'm just here for Sakura. No one else. So where is she? I need to know now before I can pummel you to a pulp."

"Sorry, Hyuuga," a slick voice boomed. "That's my job." Maki paled even further as a figure stepped from the shadows. He wore a two-faced mask; Janus. His eyes were purple. Not the pretty violet or majestic rich purple some had. This purple was mixed with black, an ugly, demonic color. I winced as the man pulled my chin up. "Ah, the infamous Black Cat."

I felt my eyes droop slightly as he raised a light blue Alice stone. What was light blue for again? As I racked my thoughts, everything was tilting. "You'll be perfect for this part of the plan. I have you to thank, Maki. Your selfless solo act brought me the prize that will topple Sakura to the soles of my shoes." Then I remembered.

Sleep…

--,--,--,--,--,

_Crack! _

Another scar, blood welling up in the trail of whipped skin. I didn't scream. Screaming would make me weak. I wasn't that. Wanting to save your friends isn't a weakness, I reminded myself. I panted as Uehiro reared back for the second blow. I closed my eyes and inhaled as I anticipated the blow.

_Crack!_

This was the most painful out of the rest. A slight tear traveled down my face as I fought to keep it schooled. I gasped out the air I'd held in. This wasn't, couldn't be the end of it. Sakura had to be safe if any of us wanted a way out of this goddamned life. In truth, those of us below eighteen hated lying to others with our skills. Those others who saw this as nothing but a successful career path and a one way ticket to Easy Street, mostly adults, were alright with the fact that they lied and killed. But we were different.

When Sakura left, we were spurred to leave to. Some of us made it. Those who didn't…weren't really seen much anymore. Miura, Raion and I were the only ones to have experienced life outside, disguised as periods of serious injury. We spent ages out, the world in our backyard.

We decided rebellion. So, we paid the consequences.

He walked towards me, mask painted two colors. "Tell me who the other operatives are and I'll spare you."

"Hah!" I spat. "I'd rather hang from a tree."

He looked at me, his eyes a mix of fury and pity. "Fine. I'll have you know, Sakura will be ours in a matter of days. So, all your efforts, would have been in vain." I felt a gentle blade pierce me in between the ribs. It was over for me. I felt the slight shadows come around me. "Bury him with honor. Died doing his duty," were the last words I heard before I sank into oblivion, the ocean's roaring waves capturing me forever…

--,--,--,--,

I was sitting in the dank cell. Musty smells filled the air, depleting the oxygen content. I opened my eyes, a hazy world. My head swirled round and round in circles as I recalled what had happened. Oh, right. I was captured.

Crap.

The metal of the cell clanged open. I lifted my head and found a torrent of water come at me, soaking me. Obviously, they didn't think I'd be awake. I coughed and my neck was wretched up, a bulky hand squeezing my throat. Dude! I need air! He was a bulky guy, his eyes, black, scrutinizing my face. He glared then let out a horrendous, throaty laugh.

"You're the Black Cat?" he roared. I lifted an eyebrow. "Hah! He must be kidding! You're nothing but a puny, pretty boy!" Something in me clicked at that insult. I flipped from his grasp. I aimed a flying kick at his face when his bulky hand caught my ankle. "Hey, hey, none of that now." He shackled me in chains and began dragging me, literally, out.

We walked, or rather he dragged and I…slid, to a room. What was is with these creeps? Everything looked right out of a medieval movie set or something. The man in the cloak waltzed in again. He was dressed as usual, but in his hand was a dagger, blood dashed on both sides. I stiffened. He must have noticed since he laughed.

"Chill, Hyuuga," he said. His voice was…slick and demonic in some way. "I'm not going to kill you." He traced the skin of my face like Persona did. I shivered at him and glared. "You're going to be part of a far more…interesting plan. Do you remember Sakura? Well, I think you know well enough that she used to work for us, no?"

"What's it to you, bastard?" I spat.

"Tsk, tsk," he chided. "What had my good-for-nothing brother, Persona, been teaching you, I wonder? He always said you were always a fabulous…masterpiece, I think was his word. Hah! More like failure! Anyway, in this plan, you'll play the bait."

"Persona?" I laughed. "Your brother? Oh sure, the guy is completely gay and somewhat…like a cockroach but he isn't as sadistic a bastard as you!"

"Oh, defending him are you?" he said, nonchalantly. "That's something new. But yes, he is my brother. And I want the pleasure of killing him if you don't mind. We must be off. Sakura awaits."

"What are you planning?"

"Interesting now? Well, Sakura is…my masterpiece. She's ten times what you'll ever be. If you ever thought your past was horrible, imagine what hers was. She is the key to what Janus was created for."

"What is Janus? Why was this goddamned institution built for?"

"My boy, I thought you were smarter than this. This 'institution' was built for one reason. The cleanse the world, wrought it anew and free the hell out of this world. We're going to conquer…and destroy. Sakura is the key."

"What the hell is Janus?"

"Still on that?" He smiled wickedly. "The real question should be _who_ is Janus, not what. And the answer to that query…is me. I'm Janus. God of Gates, at your service."

* * *

**A/N: like it? I hope you did. Hah! I might be putting a sequel after all this drama. but hey, who knows? I've got plenty of time on my hands and I guess I'll be updating like crazy from now on! Haha!!! love ya guys! **


	6. Reasons

**_hey..._okie, we're at chap 6. I honestly thought this story was okay. Sorry if you can't figure out who is talking but that's my fun! Okay...something I'm spposed to tell you...RIGHT! In case you dint know, of course this story has some romantic proportions...somewhere in chap eight i think but im not reali sure now. Everything is so jumpy and I started a new story, A Thorny Rose. More on that later but heck, nevermind now. cya later!**  
_

* * *

_

_I'm not a perfect person  
As many things I wish I didn't do  
But I continue learning  
I never meant to do those things to you  
And so I have to say before I go  
That I just want you to know_

The Reason by Hoobastank

**

* * *

Chapter 6: Reasons**

Bliss is a fragile thing. It can be easily broken but near impossible to obtain at times when one's self is doubted. I closed my eyes and wished away all the voices and sounds, memories, far, far away from my consciousness. The problem was that all the voices didn't belong to anyone around me.

They echoed fervently in my mind, refusing to be dispelled, refusing to bid my wishes, refusing to bend to my will. I wished, prayed them away. I wanted, however much I hated it or denied it, my alter-ego, Hemorrhage, to conquer and control my mind, whisk me away to oblivion where I couldn't be haunted by my memories anymore.

'_Mikan! Let's go for a picnic!'_

I winced. The memory of Anna and Nonoko's sweet voices calling to me to join them for a picnic to celebrate the anniversary of our friendship with a feast concocted by the Cooking Alice wielder and an assortment of drinks, thankfully harmless, whisked up by the Potion Alice wielder rang fresh in my memory.

'_Mikan! Let's copy each other's homework so Jinno doesn't kill us!'_

Koko. How much had I hurt him with the painful days of my past? I was so sorry that I'd done that to him. It was far more cruel than anything I'd ever done. I shut my eyes tighter, unwilling them to open for if I did, I would be compelled to go back home. I banished that memory from my mind but it didn't wish it. It stuck to me like glue.

'_Your crying face makes you thirty percent less graceful to me.' _

I remembered that familiar phrase of Hotaru's that always reminded me that the girl I was, Sakura Mikan, to smile always and never be ungrateful or unhappy about something…when I used to live that life. In the past, two weeks ago, a time that felt like a century ago (or rather four chapters ago). Back then, everything didn't matter much, just children playing around, fooling a way of life.

'_You'll always be my friend.' _

The words Ruka uttered to me when I turned down his confession two years ago. I felt myself blush even if I couldn't be sure. I would always remember Ruka as one of my best friends. He always cared and supported me. I recalled when he gave up his three stars in favor of equality. I smiled at his kind personality. He was so dear to me and always would be as he was like my big brother.

'_I'll always come back, Polkadots.' _

I felt a pain in my chest as I imagined his ridiculously handsome and beautiful face in my mind's eyes, taunting me, whirling about my thoughts. I wasn't sure if I loved him truly. I thought I did. Remembering that incident at the Sports Day, I was sure it was him but I didn't say anything in fear of erecting the obvious answer; rejection when I knew it was him beneath the mask. I'd always thought that some day, in that far off future I wasn't sure I was entitled to, I'd end up with him. I'd entertained that idea for so long, I'd never thought I was impossible, that it would never come true.

But that was like thinking I was free.

But I knew that I'd never let go of that hope, that secret fantasy, secretly praying for our futures to possibly intertwine, even if the leaves of the vines were the only things that touched. To be honest, I'd pictured us walking out of the Academy, hand-in-hand, him smiling that smile I thought suited him best; small yet truly happy. I laughed at my naivety now. Thinking that I'd be free to have my own life and world was something that was nigh impossible.

So, I let go of everything, wishing again for silence…and I opened my eyes.

Okinawa.

Everything was as beautiful as I remembered all those years ago when I first found this place. But now, dressed in autumn hues, everything glistened with the magic of rebirth. I imagined elves and fairies, precious shards of fantasy I was taught to trust in, peeking from under the leaves of orange, red and yellow. The faint bubbling of a nearby, a marker to my base, played an accompaniment to the song of the wind, whispering all the secrets of the world. The swaying of the trees were the dancers to the sonata of the animal's concerto. The melody of silence was andante again and again around me.

I was deep in the recesses of a country forest, near a village far from the city.

_Perfect_, I thought. The thought of an intimate relationship with isolation was calming to me, knowing that I'd never hurt another soul. Solace would be my best friend, its cousin silence coming close second. I'd always played the lonely one when I was younger, training. It'd always been like that.

But I missed Nagoya. It was charming in spring, cherry blossoms haunting ever branch. But in autumn, my favorite season, everything was bursting alive with color, nothing plain or boring. I used to lie on my back as the leaves fell all around me, creating a collage of fire. I saw Natsume's eyes in autumn, the very essence in those two eyes that always mesmerized me.

Why was I thinking of him again? And so much? Perhaps because I hadn't seen him for well over three weeks, closer to a month? Maybe because we'd been close at the ending of my stay? Maybe because some feeling lingered in my heart for him? No. But … nevermind that now. I just miss him like I did the others. He was like…a relative? No. He was my close friend and I care about him like I do everyone else. Like always, he'd tease me like his younger sister. That was all I was to him.

Right?

Brushing insignificant thoughts away from the mosh-pit that was my mind, I found myself staring at a small cottage I'd built with my very own two hands. I'd created this place when I first ran away, a safe haven where I could always come home to when I was fearful. It was dirty now, everything coated with a light layer of dust and grime. A makeshift bed sat in a tiny corner, a complete kitchen in the other. On the back of the door, a piece of paper, yellowed with age with something scribbled on it.

_Hope you like what we did!  
__No, nothing is going to explode or intent deadly harm.  
__See you soon!_

_-Miura and Maki_

I smiled and decided that maybe they weren't so bad after all.

Everywhere, a small piece of home was there. I didn't feel like it was properly home. What was it that they used to say? Home is where the heart is. But heart wasn't here. It was in the Academy, where my friends were, where my life was, where my 'family' used to reside. It was there that I belonged yet could not fit in. I was a contradicting idiot.

Just knowing that the Academy was my home made it all the harder to stay away from that which I loved. I breathed, struggling to keep myself from breaking down into a frustrated sob. I didn't want to cry. I detested it. I'd cried many times in the Academy.

No…

_Mikan_ cried many times in the Academy. Hemorrhage didn't. Hemorrhage didn't cry for sadness, happiness, anger, fear, and mainly of late, for Natsume. _Sakura Mikan_ did.

_I_ didn't.

With no sense to ask why, the times when I saw him limping after a mission, injured and hurting, feeling as though the weight of the world was on his shoulders, tears would spring to my eyes and I would leap at the chance to help him dress his wounds. I'd convinced myself that I would swear to never let him or any of my friends be hurt.

Like Kaori.

Kaori Irahime.

Everything she fought for, every thing she believed in, was in vain. My only true companion in Janus, she cared for me. She protected me. Until that need to protect became an obsession, she was 'disposed of' and I never once saw her again.

Then I remembered. He called them liars, all there to help in his plan of weakening her. The teachers were their cronies? And the Black Cat? I winced as I felt that familiar spear pierce my heart. A monetary expense? Did that mean he was paid to act as a distant friend? A friend at all? Was Hotaru the same? She had a fetish for money. So…what did everything mean?

I shut my eyes and I laughed that horrible dry and sad laugh. I'd never believed him to start with. He would never infiltrate the Academy. Hirazuki Idare, the second hand man I Janus, was never that willing to risk. He was lying. But I ran anyway. It was knowledge that they knew where I was. All along. I was there and they found me…and their wanting me back spooked me into running.

So…here I was…what now?

* * *

Fires flickered forlornly in the dark. Every face, dirty and sorrowful, shadowed by the fiery hues the candles of prayer gave off. I watched those around me as Dalta whispered her prayers to the fire, Maki's name carved into the scented wax of the candle. We didnt understand what she prayed as she muttered in Latin. As the flame grew dimmer, so did our hope. Maki, our leader, was dead. If he could be dead, what promised that we wouldn't?

The flame guttered out, a sign that his soul had flown. Hopefully, to a world with no shadows.

Over the past decade, our numbers had dwindled to near nothing. The resistance didn't do much to staunch the blood that flowed out of the gaping wound of Janus that'd steadily grown larger. Our latest, and by far, the best plan to nip this problem in the bud was to get Sakura to kill that man. She was only who'd ever been indulged the secret of killing immortals, having been prepared to take on the leadership.

"Miura," Dalta said. I looked up and saw her eyes fixated on mine. "It's time. Hyuuga is locked in the Behemoth cell. We can do nothing for him while he rests there. Sakura is our last chance. We must find her. If she walks into that trap, everything we've worked for will go up in smoke."

"I've had it!" I heard. I turned my tired eyes to the boy behind me. Out of the four of us, minus Raion who was in my place, searching for Sakura, Kaitou was the most hotheaded one. I once told Maki and he said it was because he was the youngest. I'd protested that maturity had nothing to do with chronological age but he said Kaitou didn't understand the full extent of his temper.

He threw his plate down and it landed with a loud _clang!_ "I don't want to hide anymore! I'm sick of having to play as Janus's operative. Why don't we just kill that blasted charlatan? We can do without bloody Sakura!"

"Maki said-…"

"Wake up from the dream! Maki is dead, Sato!" he exclaimed, shooting to his feet. "You always lean back to this stupid plan of his. You can't always hide behind the shadow of his memory anymore, Sato. He is dead, face that fact or walk away like a coward. So, can we not just follow our instincts and kill Janus?"

"That's enough, Kaitou!" Dalta roared. She stood and the flames stood with, flickering with ferocity. "You must stop this incessant berating of Miura. It is not any of our faults that Maki has passed. He went his own way and fate already had this in store for him. It is not our place to meddle and pray for a different outcome." She breathed a sigh of frustration. "But we cannot dash head-on into some thing that determines our deaths or lives. If we die, who will carry the burden? Every he did, everything he died for would have been in vain."

"You're certainly right, Dalta," I said quietly as she smiled triumphantly. I'd buried my face in my hands, calloused and shaking. Shamefaced at Kaitou's cruel but true words, I whispered. "But without Maki, we're as good as dead."

"We have Sakura," she retorted defiantly, unwilling to shatter her hope.

"She would be enough but who is to say if she would be at all willing to help us? She might fall into his trap if the wrong steps are taken. If we do not have her, or any means, nor the knowledge of how to kill immortals, who else would besides that devil incarnate or Sakura? Who else? We don't know."

'Ah. But I do," a voice, dry and slimy, drawled. All three of us whirled around to find a man in a black cloak. Two others, around our age walked in behind him.

A raven haired shrew with violet eyes, curious and intelligent but also blank with sorrow, stood boldly next to the man. In her hand, she held a small compact object. The other one, a golden haired prince with a white rabbit in his hands, probed their faces with azure eyes. They stood a contrast to each other.

"You!" I exclaimed. He was the man who were with Hyuuga's two other friends who were standing near him. I'd released them in the direction of the south wing where security was at the lowest minimum they'd ever allowed. "What the heck are you doing here?"

"I am here to offer my services and assistance to your…quaint little rebellion," he said. I stiffened at the indirect insult. The other two had huddled in a corner, the young girl's fingers tapping on the small laptop and the rabbit was squirming about in the boy's lap. I looked at the corner in silent mortification.

It used to be where Maki sat and thought out everything. He used to tell us about the freedom we'd one day share when we were rid of everything. Used to…in a time so long ago it seemed. "We don't want or need your help," I said.

"You certainly do."

"Why?"

"Because I know the secret to killing Immortals."

My eyes lit up at the instant hope. "Who are you?"

"My name's Persona," he said. "I'm a guardian and the traitor of the secret."

He looked at us as if hesitating on a piece of information. But if he hesitated, he didn't show.

"Plus, I'm brother to Janus."

* * *

Silence…

Everywhere around me, that word whispered endlessly around me; a world of illusion. My legs were crossed under me, meditation my current state of mind.

The silent chirping of the birds surrounded me as the morning dew dampened the ground. I breathed evenly as my thoughts swiveled around me. Janus was planning something. I could feel it to the bones of my body. They'd been inactive for far too long of a period and that would certainly not do. Janus, that bloody devil of a man, was too much of a sadistic idealist to have held out for this long.

I opened my eyes and found myself looking at Raion Kehara. He was panting, tired obviously, and a sort of pained look of loss occupied his eyes. "Sakura," he said, his throat dry. "I finally found you…and…"

"And…?"

"I need you to come back to Tokyo with me, back to the Academy. There's trouble and we need you to help us. Janus is planning something." I knew it. I knew too much about that man to think otherwise. But I looked curiously looked in his eyes for any signs of treachery. Nothing but panicked relief washed them. His request puzzled me. He was asking me for help? Back then, he never liked me; scrawny but strong and dangerous as I was told to be. But we share a mutual bond of respect with each other. Return to Alice Academy? That was behind me. "Something has happened. The status quo has changed drastically and a radical plan had been set in motion. You have to come with me!"

I raised my eyebrows at that exclaim. "I don't _have_ to," I said dryly, obviously put out with his talking. And boy, did he talk fast. Five me one good reason to why you're asking me this pointless question and a cause to follow what you say, and we'll see what happens, okay, dude?" I laughed inwardly. It'd been a while since I'd talked to someone my age.

I left that glade and he followed suit behind me right into my home. I poured us both tea. Ah, Earl Grey; the one good thing he taught me. The embodiment of the eternal elixir, or so he said in his own words. I just thought it was good for me. "So, are you going to explain?"

"Yeah, sure," he complied in a sort of…discouraged voice. He warmed his hands with the heat given out by the tea as he wrapped slender fingers, calloused and thick-skinned, around the porcelain. "I got word from Miura several nights ago to find you in his stead. Apparently, he and Maki were having a…_disagreement_. I don't know about what about but Miura stayed behind to help with this 'slight crisis' he called it. So, I started for Nagoya. Then, Maki told me it was unlikely that you'd go there 'cause he warned you, jerk."

"Yep," I answered. "He did. I didn't think to trust him at first. But his little speech about changing did me in so I took precautions. I changed directions and headed here, to Okinawa, a place almost no one knows about. But apparently he did. What do you mean by 'jerk'?"

I watched as his face paled and the raw pain occupy his eyes again. It was almost as though someone had died. "He…" he whispered. "Uh, Maki…died." I felt my own face pale then color again. Maki? How? I was furious. He was never one of my friends but he was a comrade. And he died. I promised I wouldn't let anyone die ever again!

_Remember Mikan. For every person you save, there's someone you don't save._

The memory of that answer to my cavalier question years ago resounded in my mind. My grandfather taught me what Janus couldn't: morals and love. That sentence was something I lived by. I swore that would never come true. I promised.

Now that the rage of failing that promise was aroused, I spurred myself into a forced calm. "Who killed him?"

"Janus."

I swore colorfully. "I knew I should have just gone to that blasted headquarters and killed him then." I closed my eyes. "Still, just because he killed another…innocent soul, I do not have a valid or competent reason to follow back to that cursed Academy. So, what's your trump card?"

Raion breathed heavily. I saw the barest trace of tears at the corner of his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Sakura."

"Stop that," I said. "Call me Mikan already. We've known each other for years. Might as well use our names, Raion."

"Right, but," he said, a tiny smile playing on his lips. Then, he turned grim. "I am so sorry to have to be the one to have to tell you this." He sighed. "I heard from headquarters that they'd found your friends sneaking around, looking for some information on your whereabouts. We got most of them safely to our hideout. Most of them are that inventor, Imai, Nogi, Yome and, apparently Janus's brother, Persona."

"Who is missing?" I asked, my voice horribly dry and devoid of any emotion.

"They have Hyuuga."

I didn't notice as I smashed the table. It cracked into two halves. But I didn't notice. My eyes were blazing with anger, I could feel it. "Where are they?"

"I don't…"

"Tell me where the hell they are, Raion, if you want to live!" I roared. The whole house seemed to shake. Then silence reigned. I felt my heart jump oddly. Not a funny feeling. The warm fuzzy feeling I had lately when I talked about Natsume. This was a mix of fury, sorrow and…what was it? "I need to find them. I swore I'd never let them get hurt."

Raion held his hand out. "Come on," he said, a tiny smile playing on his lips. "We have to get going to the Academy. It's the only way we'll get Hyuuga back, right?" I looked at him, sure enough that my eyes were self-pitying. Return to the Academy from which I had run from? The bile stuck itself in my throat.

"Can I?" I whispered aloud. He looked at me. "I just nearly destroyed their home, Raion. Who is to say if I am even welcome there? What would they say? They'd throw me out the moment they spotted me. What if that happened? I wouldn't be able to take it."

"They'd never do that."

"How'd you know? You've never lived in those walls and loved it like I did," I retorted. "All you've ever known is that bloody hellhole Janus. Unlike that place where they either kill you or torture you, in the Academy, they'll judge you and point out the wrongs you've done. They'll alienate you and cast you out. What makes you think they'll help me?"

"Because it was your home too. No, it _is_ your home. They're your family and family will always be with you no matter what happens. That's how it works. Even as humans are cruel, we care, we're compassionate…and forgiving. Miura and the rest will meet us there. So, will you come with me?"

Return? I was seriously contemplating that possibility. I closed my eyes and I imagined the memories I had carefully stored away of the six years I'd lived there. Everything seemed so far away…so impossible. Returning to the recent past, the lovely dream I'd run away from, it was so candid and child-like, it seemed ethereal; like it vanish in a puff of smoke the moment I could touch it.

It was a risk and I loved it.

I opened my eyes and took Raion's outstretched hand and followed him to the only light that shone in my past.

_The Academy…_

How I missed it.

* * *

Darkness swirled around me. The knowledge that they'd drugged me with some sort of chloroform that kept me in the dark was threatening. If they had me in constant fog, I'd be useless. So, I looked around me, candlelight the only source to see. They'd trapped me in a cell in a medieval part of the fort.

I heard a couple of men around the corner as they gulped down what sounded like beer. They chugged themselves until they were probably drunk. I was sure this time, I'd get the information I need without having to resort to…painful methods. I clanged the bars with my chains, the metals creating a ruckus. A man, dark-haired, a burly man of around thirty came into view with an apparent drunkard's gait.

"What do you want, you gutter frog?" he slurred like a drag king or something. I twitched in disgust. "Some of us are actually trying to get some…aw, hell, I think I had too much to drink."

"Okay," I attempted. "Could you do me a favor? See, I'm a complete kiss-up for gossip. Since, according to your head honcho up there, I'm supposed to be dead after they get Sakura, care to fill me in on the latest info as like a, going-away-to-damnation present?"

He actually laughed then thought about it. He shook his head in agreement. I laughed at the imaginary face of that two faced man in my mind. I loved the intoxication of alcohol in a man's system. It's like an art or something.

"Word on the street is, Sakura was zeroed on in Okinawa. Brought the whole shack down in a burning inferno," he said. I felt my insides grip in fear. Was she dead? "Janus was in a foul mood. They searched for a body but nada! She wasn't there. I wouldn't put it past her though. She is good. Trained by that god himself!" I breathed again. She wasn't dead. There was still hope. "We're transporting you to Nagoya next week. Not sure how, but you're being taken by Hirazuki. He's second in the ranks. After Sakura."

I smirked as he swaggered away. On my collar, a transmitter slash recorder bleeped to life.

* * *

**A/N:Right, I wanna thank everyone who has reviewed this so far...I was thinkign about deleting this at first since no one liked it very much...I dunno reali. the thought is ringing around in my mind...aw, i dunno..haha...thanks lotz to JC-Zala for all to her support and to melissa1995, if you cant understand the English? dun bother reading it or use a dictionary! sorry if i sound rude but seriously. Stop acting so whiny and stuff...**


	7. Verdict

**_hello!! _im back with chap 7 and i hope this is long enough...i hope...maybe..right, i hope those who have read this will ****continue to enjoy it and new people will like it! thanks for your support! ja!**

**(Sorry!! I added a little more at the end so ... keep reading ok?!!)

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**

_Vindicated  
I am selfish  
I am wrong  
I am right  
I swear I'm right  
Swear I knew it all along  
And I am flawed,  
__But I am cleaning up so well  
I am seeing in me now the things you swore you saw yourself_

**Vindicated by Dashboard Confessional

* * *

**

**Chapter 7****: Verdict**

Tension pulsed through my heart as I stared at the black gates I had ripped out from its hinges, once upon a time. I didn't want to face them again, I thought to myself. I knew the extent of their forgiveness. They'd never forgive someone who had near destroyed their home. It just wouldn't be possible.

I felt Raion's eyes probe my eyes then heard his gravelly laugh. I turned to look at him in surprise. In the few years I'd known him, he'd never once showed an ounce of amusement. Now, it startled me but all the same, it was nice. "I can't believe it," he mused, a slight grin on his lips. I cocked my head to one side, considering his thought. "Sakura Mikan, the feared Hemorrhage and killing machine is afraid of being an outcast among her friends. It makes no logical sense to me."

I slapped his shoulder playfully.

Huh…

I guess all these years here have grown a soft side in me. That's bad.

I turned solemn. "You don't know what its like," I said. I fingered the intricate design of the ebony gate. "They thought I was really one of them. I've never really told anyone why I followed Hotaru-sama-chan to the Academy. I didn't really know why myself. It's just, I was drawn to it. Something here," I touched the area where my heart was, "was telling me what I always wanted was there. What I craved was found there. So, I followed her, out of two reasons. Because I also loved Hotaru and because I wanted so much to find my dreams there."

"What was your dream, your wish? Would you tell me?"

"I wanted family," I said simply. "The dream of always wanting family never left my mind ever. That was my one true dream. What Jii-chan and Azumi-san gave me…it wasn't real. So, I searched for what they call family, following Hotaru all the way here. And look at the mess I got myself into. This place, it became like home to me. Everyone I considered my family."

"So, why leave it all? It's your home right? So, don't give up on it."

I smiled my first in three weeks. "Yeah." I breathed in tightly. He was right. This was my home so why should I have to give it up. The sun was slowly setting, its rays giving out refractions of gold, orange and red. I squinted, looking for the happiness I sought. I saw in those colors the love of Azumi-san and Jii-chan, the memories I'd tried so hard in vain to let go, the warm eyes of Natsume I wanted to save and home. I was ready. We opened the gate together and stepped into the world, born anew with hope.

--,--,--,

In front of me stood Sakura Mikan. She wasn't looking at any of us, her eyes firmly reverted and planted on her intertwined fingers. It was just us, Sumire, Kitsuneme, Tsubasa, Misaki, Anna, Nonoko and I, all in the visitors' lounge, watching Sakura. I knew, somewhere deep in her mind, she thought she wasn't welcome here. She didn't know how mistaken she was.

Everyone knew how much they'd toyed with the idea of running from the Academy to try and find their lost friend. Even now, we all knew we loved her, loved each other, like family. But we weren't making a very good impression. The room was enveloped in silence, uneasy stares across the coffee table passed to one another with fearful eyes.

Jinno's head rounded the doorpost and searched for Mikan. "Sakura," he said, his voice hoarse and fraught with respect. "Aki Tsukaima would like a conference with you." And he disappeared once again from sight. She sighed in hesitation as though unwilling to move. She nodded solemnly to her friend, a boy she called Raion, accepting the order, moving quickly, somehow wanting to escape from the blistering silence. It was as though we were alienating her. The one thing she apparently feared most in the world.

Oddly enough, it was my girlfriend, Sumire, who shattered the pregnant silence of exile.

"Hey, Sakura," she said. All eyes froze as Mikan turned to meet her emerald eyes with a mixture of fear and doubt. She seemed so fragile now, her vivacious spirit gone and furious insanity vanished. If we had turned a single cruel word or insults towards her, she'd probably break like a fragile china doll. "Glad to have you back. Don't run off again okay? Do you have any idea of how many nights' beauty sleep?"

She grinned that smile we'd missed so much. "I don't think I'll ever guess but…ooh, is that wrinkles I see?" We laughed as Sumire took on an annoyed look. "I'll try to not leave again…but no promises okay?" She bounded off in obvious glee.

Sakura Mikan was back.

And we were happy about it.

--,--,--,--,

I walked through the familiar hallways. Most of the damage I'd caused had been mended like the gate. All around me, I felt the stares and murmurs of other students. They judged me for the actions I'd done. I heard the whispers of fear, the insults, the rumors, the mockery and the gossip. If it had happened later, I'd have cringed at every word and be broken by now.

But now, their judgment didn't matter to me anymore. The one whose opinions truly counted had accepted me, forgiven me for all I'd done. I was one of them and was happy with the way things were. I slowed down to a halt.

Natsume…

I had to save him. He'd have done the same for me. I closed my eyes and remembered the red eyes of amber that'd first captured my attention and mesmerized me to no end. I missed him quite a lot and wanted him home. Once I'd set him free, I'd have to die. I opened my eyes again and prayed for that day. I'd cross that bridge sooner or later. Either way, I'd probably die. At his hands, if I figured out what it was that I was feeling or at Janus's hands, who I would swear to kill.

The grin I'd received from Noda-sensei was rewarding all in its own as I passed him before he disappeared into a time warp. Thankfully, I'd pulled him out before that happened. So, I went with him towards the Student Council Hall.

There, I met with the first family I ever had.

My eyes began to water as I saw her finally catch sight of me. I saw scratches on her face and Koko trailing behind her. Her violet eyes widened but her face stayed impassive. I closed my eyes and when I saw light again, her arms were open in welcome. I couldn't stay in my stone visage any longer. I ran towards her, throwing my whole self around her. She smiled a little.

"Silly little baka," she said in that ever cool voice of hers. She hugged me as I did her. The flashes of memory came rushing back with warmth. I would never again doubt her. She was family. Always had been, always will be. "Why did you run away?"

I sobbed again and buried my face in her shoulder. "I'm so sorry," I gurgled. "I was so stupid. But…but I just couldn't let them take you away from me when I found my family. I thought…I thought that you'd be hurt if they ever found out how attached I was to all of you. I didn't, never would, believe the letter he wrote to me telling me how they had all of you on payroll. But…knowing they found me…it scared me." I fell into another wretch of tears.

"Like I said, silly baka," she said. She held my cheeks in her cool hands and she studied my face as if assessing what had changed in me. She wouldn't let me go away again easily. I wouldn't leave her again either. "What changed in your eyes? Their…blank and there's no sparkle."

I looked down wistfully, thinking of everything I'd contemplated in the journey south. "There are some things you're not meant to understand, Ho-chan, no matter what you do to understand it. No matter how smart, how ingenious, how creative you are, you can't understand the things you weren't meant to understand. Do you get it?"

She looked at me with those cool eyes of hers, sizing me up, desperately trying to come to terms with the limitations of her genius. I looked at her, tired of the pain and suffering I'd brought to her. She was always so sure of herself, knowing she had a bright future, having understood quantum physics at the age of thirteen, being acknowledged in the world of Mechanics at fifteen, making her first million a hardly five months ago.

"I get it, Mikan," she said to me. "But it doesn't mean I can accept it. Do you think I, _we_, can all can all just sit around doing nothing while you blindly attempt to kill some charlatan who is said to be immortal? To hell, if you think so. Nothing is ever like that. So, who are you to say what is best for us? I can, I _will_ understand everything that I wasn't meant to, simply because I want to. So, will you be with me while I figure everything out?"

I stared at this girl. She was the epitome of a lioness. Her figure, as tall as my five foot four, slender and curved, her face pale and striking with intelligent eyes. Her cool face, ever stoic and conquering, intimidating with a glance, she was always prepared to do whatever it took to protect what was hers. Beautiful and deadly…compared to me, a wilting and traitorous empty shell of a girl, she was a orchid of mass abilities.

"Yeah," I said, my face brightening. I seemed to be smiling more and more nowadays. Perhaps one day I'd come to terms with Natsume like this. I wanted to face him like I did now with Hotaru, finding the possibilities of the future. That confrontation would have to be done before I would butt heads with Janus. "I will be with you…all the way…to the end." She frowned slightly at the last words. I turned, remembering my appointment with Aki, which I was late for.

As I dashed towards the Student Council Hall, I caught sight of Koko sitting and watching from a slight distance. My heart caught in my throat. I wanted desperately to talk to him, to say I was sorry, that if he hated me, I wouldn't blame him. That would have to come later.

The fear of meeting the man who led the rebellion against Janus lodged itself in my throat. Would he judge me by my past, the role I played in the destruction of their troops, by my actions, skills and convictions? Would he blame me for the pain of the secret corps, endangering those who I counted my friends now? I closed my eyes again and again, praying for the best.

--,--,--,--,--,

The man in the cloak paced in front of me, over and again. I watched with frustrated eyes as he growled at the man who gave him the message from their sentry. Mikan was gone and his mood hadn't improved in the past three days. I watched him in earnest calm, preparing for the worst his foul mood could throw at me. So far, he'd shattered three vases, Ming dynasty mind you, torn three priceless pieces of art (a Caravaggio!) and cutlery aimed at his men's loins.

Geez, he was in a mood…

Ah, well, the cavalry would come sooner or later…

Just a matter of time.

--,--,--,--,

My body was rigid as his gold eyes probed my face. This was Aki Tsukaima, the man I'd once battled with once upon a time. When he first saw me, I was four. I'd known him as the seventeen year old boy, wilted from the fighting he'd done. Now, as a twenty-year old man, he was as exhausted as ever from fighting. Everything, all the fighting he'd done was one step to the annihilation of Janus.

He didn't speak so much as a welcome when I slowly, hesitantly and reluctantly, mind you, walked into the room. "Sakura-san," he said out of the blue as I jolted out of my reverie. "Who are you really?"

I breathed deep and took the plunge. What were the odds that he would listen to my tale and not judge me? One to a billion were the chances that I'd ever be forgiven. "I am who you see in front of you; Hemorrhage or as I want to be called from now on, Sakura Mikan."

He nodded faintly and leaned back into the leather chair that dominated the room of books, paneled oak and a huge world map on the Eastern wall. I stared at his cool demeanor, wondering to myself how long it took for him to achieve such an indifferent stance. It nearly reminded me of Natsume. "Are you willing to share with me your past?"

I blinked. Knowing somehow that this question would arise sooner or later, I attempted to prepare myself for this question to meet with utter failure. So, might as well tell the truth. "I was…taken from my parents, according to the archive in the recesses of his fortress in Nagoya. My parents' names weren't confirmed but due to certain circumstances which I am not obliged to give as I want to keep that part a secret."

"Touché. Please continue."

"Right. Recently, just as I was brought to their headquarters, they'd developed a new chemical, one capable of rebirth. They called it Halogen, though I have no clue why. Not exactly a sort of thing that sends you back to your mother's womb or regenerate you but it takes the bone marrow cells and transfers them to a sort of time warp. Your body will morph, older to about three to four years and the mind is molded to a sort of super intelligence but the age, the chronological numbers never change."

"So what you're saying is, they perfected it and used it on you?"

"You misunderstand it a little," I contradicted. "They didn't perfect it. But they had a test subject and it was used no matter the kinks."

"Who was it?"

"Me." I saw an instance of astonishment in his eyes. "The flaws in it were counteracted with the help of my nullifying Alice, saving my life at the last minute. I was…only a year old when they injected me with the fluid and since it was Alice made, it affected me only slightly. The results came out as me, an assassin with the means to kill with only a toothpick at hand.

"The kinks in me weren't as bad. It developed a sort of unconscious self. When I have a mission, an order, a force that needs my killing knowledge, it sorts of takes over my mind, leaving me barely conscious of what I'm doing. It leaves me and my opponents at different disadvantages. I lose the bit of humanity, the little restraint and it strips my mercy to a thread. They have a higher, almost inevitable chance of getting killed."

"I see." He didn't say much, I realized. I was doing all the talking, telling him my life story, laying my lies bare on the table with not a clue if he would judge me by the measure of men I'd killed. He continued his probing of my face, searching for a reason to eject me from this place I'd called my home for more years I'd ever willed myself to care about. "Sakura-san, if I may…"

I cut him off. "I'm sorry to stop you, Tsukaima-sama, but I must say something." At his slow nod, I continued. "I wasn't asked if I wanted to do this…thing with Janus all those years ago. Everything I did, everything I was taught was done not of my own will. They killed my parents, forced me into using an untested chemical and they…they made me go against my own friends.

"However, even if I was forced, I am grateful for the training they made me go through. Because of them, I ran away and was able to meet the first family I ever had. Because of them, I was able to find people who accepted me, for the short but sweetest time I ever had. And by the name of the charlatan, they've given me the means to kill the source of this whole mess. So, if you wish to send me away from this place, I will go and seek a way to kill him so that no one, none of my friends will ever have to see the bloody death."

"Are you done?" During my roll, he had folded his hands and rested his chin on them, elbows propping his face up. I sighed and nodded, finally looking him straight into his liquid gold eyes for the first time. Now, I saw a sort of amusement dance in his eyes. "The reason I called you here, was to find out if you were a spy for Janus. I wanted to find out about your past to see if I could relate but clearly, I couldn't. Now, all I want to know is if you're loyal to the Academy and your thoughts on the upcoming mission."

I cocked my head to one side. "So, you're not kicking me out?"

He threw his head back and roared with laughter. Wiping tears from his eyes, he looked at me, definite amusement playing in his eyes. "Heavens, no!" he said after a peal of laughter. "I never wanted to do that. Would be inhuman to send you out with the entire legion of charlatans after you right?" He sobered up. "Although, our association was built to end the tyrant's reign and finally bring peace to the Academy. But now, our number one priority is to get Hyuuga back."

The bile caught in my throat and I struggled to swallow the bitter taste. "Yes, I know. If you'd excuse me, I'd uh, like to go and rest. Something inside me is…burning up a bit." He looked at me curiously but nevertheless nodded and excused me with a smile. I walked towards the roof, a refuge no one knew about. There, I would stay for the few hours, silent and infrequent, when I pondered. Now, when I collapsed on the tiles, I burst into tears.

I didn't know why I cried. Something, when he said Natsume's name, triggered a blowup button in me. The tears slid down my face, unwilling to stop and obey my will. I buried my face in my knees which were propped up on the clay tiles. In my mind, I viewed myself as a failure as a protector and a friend.

Every time I thought I was fine, was a good person, his face flashed, their faces, faces of those who I murdered and who I failed to save, their faces flashed in my mind, numbing me, telling me otherwise. The guilt stains would never come out.

I heard the quiet shifting of the tiles as another form sat next to me. I turned my head slightly and saw the brown-blonde head of one Kokoroyome. His face was the same but his eyes, the nutcracker color of hazel, not like my green-brown eyes but the color of wood, were changed down to the very light that shone. The sadness that now replaced the candid exuberance was heartbreaking, the old mind-reader now a memory of the past.

"He really liked you, you know," he said nonchalantly. I turned to look at him with a sort of confused look. He kept his intent stare on the waning sun, setting for a new day. "Natsume. He really liked you. Loved you more like it. Told himself he was an idiot to have fallen in love with you, putting you in danger and all. That's Natsume."

"That's Natsume, alright," I echoed. I smiled wistfully at the memories. Everything seemed to have changed in just a small span of time. "Why do we have to live this contradictory mess we call life?"

It wasn't a question really. In my heart, I was stating a fact. Everything in this world_ had_ to have two faces didn't it? It was what Janus once said.

'_In this life, nothing is ever one sided…  
__What you thought had only one face…  
__Is hiding it's other…'_

The rain was my favorite example. The fact that the damp condition it concurred didn't allow for many things yet, the joy of actually dancing as the wet droplets cascaded down your face was something I had not yet given up on. The rain was always a place where I could wish for another place to live, a different life. I breathed, the only thing I seemed to know how to do very well besides killing.

"No, he doesn't," I contradicted. "But one thing's for sure." I stood and headed down.

"What?"

"I love him."

--,--,--,--,--,

The plan was set. A spy, experienced and buried deep within the resistance had contacted Raion a few days ago. Hyuuga would be transferred to a facility in an uncharted Caribbean isle where the jungles were thick and dangerous with feral animals. I sat on my bed as I stared at the weapons they'd assembled for me.

Most of them were so familiar to me, the darts of deadly, liquidized nightshade, intensely concentrated doses of sulfuric acid, sharp shurikens that could slice a person's throat while you stood ten meters from him; these sat in pouches strung around my waist for easy reach. Then, several slight daggers, thin, dangerous and light, went into the loops on my black low riders. A portable bow and arrow, ingeniously designed by Hotaru, was compact so that it fit snugly on my back, the arrows at my right side. On my left, my katana, kept by Dalta for all these years, was burnished.

All in all, I looked like a walking arsenal. I was dressed in a black leather top with a zip up the front, sleeveless for easy running, created by Barrier Alices to withstand anything that flew and intended deadly harm, all with the exception of a dagger or sword. Hotaru had also designed my block go-go boots. Amazingly, the heel extended a razor sharp spike. I was the feared Hemorrhage again.

I looked towards Aki who was coming with me along with Raion. I'd forbidden Hotaru from coming with me, also Ruka and Koko too were restricted from the outside premises. This was my mission, and, God help me, if I could help it, no one but me would get hurt. Aki took on his seventeen year old façade and nodded at me. My burnished hair of wood swung a single pony tail.

I took a deep breath as I looked once more at the crowd of friends behind me. I wouldn't die yet, I was sure. I was going to bring Natsume home then…I'd let the wind take me where it would, fate would deal my cards and the world would let the die roll. I turned towards the sunlight of the dawn.

The plan was to intercept the party of estimated thirty as they passed through Shikoku to get to the private harbor and ships Janus kept handy. There, to avoid customs, they'd have to take a forest path no one outside the organization knew about to get to the harbor. There, they'd be most vulnerable. The space was scarce, barely enough for a stage coach to pass through.

I was about the carry this mission on my shoulders whether they liked it or not.

And if they didn't…

They might as well do me a favor and stay home…

Yeah, right.

--,--,--,--,--,

Darkness crowded around me. I felt my head swirl, just like before. They'd drugged me after finding out that I'd pried information from that blunk, Jhorka. They'd killed him straight, struck him with a dagger in between the ribs. They'd then turned to me. they's whipped me, saying the same whip had been used on Mikan.

Mikan…

Whenever I thought or said her name, my heart flipped-flopped and I was struck with a sort of inscrutable emotion. Something I couldn't fathom in my heart was throbbing with a steady beat. I didn't know why, but seeing her, imagining her being whipped with that same cord was causing me more hurt than it ever did to be hit. Like I wanted to protect her from every judging eye, every pain and hurt of the world.

I didn't know why. Now, I was being transferred to the edge of Japan, to Shikoku. I didn't know if she'd come to save me. I prayed she didn't. But why?

Why do I want to protect her so much?

Why?

* * *

**A/N: Did you like it? well, if you did, pls gimme a review okie doks? cya! Oo...this might go on a slight holiday if i wanna write a christmas story for eiter GA or the fairytales which you MUST read when it comes out okie? wait for chap 8 where the reunions and the end starts!whooooo!!!**


	8. Illusion of Paradise

**Yeah, so i'm terribly off course...sorry! i have school starting alredi and its hell on earth...who said form 2 was the honeymoon year? if i found the fella, i'd smack him and tell him to not lie! haha...but, the story is getting along. dun worry, plenty more chaps..if i can stretch it, it ought to be...fifteen?? i not sure...but heck...let's try! Gambatte! Banzai!!!**

_

* * *

_

_You found me  
When no one else was lookin'  
How did you know just where I would be?  
Yeah, you broke through  
All of my confusion  
The ups and the downs  
And you still didn't leave  
I guess that you saw what nobody could see  
You found me  
You found me_

**You Found Me by Kelly Clarkson

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**

**Chapter 8: ****Illusion of Paradise**

The metal box on wheels moved forward at a slow pace. The sun was raised to its peak and the number of guards surrounding the carriage and the cage was notable. The bare branches of the trees did little to disguise the moving arsenal, the people of the village nearby sure to notice the movements in the winter forest but as they were deep within the recesses of a Shikoku forest where no prying eyes could see them.

I stood on a branch of one of the said trees. The trunk hid my slim body from view, my eyes ever probing the moving men. My right hand, covered with a glove with the fingers cut halfway off, fingered the arrows as my other hand searched the arrow for a single defect.

Not a single one grazed the fine wood of the carved weapon.

It was just like Hotaru to ensure no kinks in her weapon.

"Red robin, red robin, do you read me?" I said into my mouthpiece, transmitting the sound of my voice to Raion who stood on the other side of the narrow path, in another clump of trees.

"I read you, falcon," was his crackly reply. "What do you have for me?"

"The metal box, probably holding Hyuuga is guarded by at least ten. The spy's estimation was a bit off mark. Or rather…very off mark."

"How far off mark?"

"There's at least sixty of them here, ten at the Behemoth cage, thirty guarding that charlatan's medieval carriage, ten at the front lines and the rest riding at the flank. It's the oldest strategy in Roman books. But, unfortunately, instead of spears or just swords, they're armed to the teeth in .45s, a Cobalt .78 and knives, German I think."

"Not going to be easy."

"For you, maybe. For me, it's a piece of…cherry pie. Mmm…I'm hungry. Can we go back later and have some Fluff Puffs?"

"Can we focus more on the mission at hand first, Sakura?" he snapped, his voice contrite and annoyed. I giggled and apology and let myself fall into the mind of Hemorrhage. I saw nothing in color anymore, the beauty of the world nothing more than something to look at. I let my mercy collapse, believing only in my mission not caring who I killed. I was once told that when I fell into this state, the light in my eyes changed and lightened my irises to a fiery orange.

We'd planned this out carefully. Raion would take out the front line one by one as Aki took out the flank, so fast that no one would see it coming. The other forty would be divided against us, Aki and Raion taking on Janus's entourage as I would struggled first to break the bars of the Behemoth cage, rumored to have the mythical monster's own blood embedded into the metal. Then, when the doors were thrown open, we'd switch as I took on Janus.

It wasn't much to my liking. I hated the fact that they were going to risk their lives. But I couldn't worry about that now since I'd already agreed, grudgingly though. So, the mission would take place, regardless of what I thought befitting. I'd lost all consciousness of my emotions, leaving empty.

I watched for a moment as Aki and Raion began their task. As a blur of color flashed through the front lines, slowly making scarce the number of soldiers, making them disappear before they own noses, the same thing happened at the flank. When half the men had promptly disappeared, a riot had started. Still, the doors to the carriage remained shut.

It was my turn.

I leaped down and as a blur of black, I had disposed of thirteen men in a matter of seconds. The Behemoth stood in front of me, its unbreakable bars of an unearthly origin the only guardians. I flexed my fingers and began shifting the metal with the powers of Alice which were said to be of the same. My muscles flexed like crazy as I used three fourths of my strength to just dent it.

"_The Behemoth responds to frustration and anger.  
__The grief of one'__s failure is its fuel and kindle.  
__Control your emotions and let them go devoid."_

Janus's words rang in my mind from memory. Let my emotions go…

As the auras of each feeling, hatred, anger, sadness, happiness, bliss, seeped out of me, I felt myself lose my mind to the abyss of oblivion, held onto by a thread. I didn't remember anything after that.

--,--,--,--,

The walls of that demon cage were being dented. I looked up from the state of utter misery and defiance I'd sunk into. I watched as a blur of color wretched the door from its hinges and disappear in a flash. My eyes widened. Nothing I'd done had so much as scratched the metal. This person, inhuman it seemed, had ripped the thing apart. I stepped from the cage and looked out.

Strewn everywhere were the bodies of the Janus operatives, each one knocked out cold, some dead, some nearing the brink of hell. I caught sight of Aki Tsukaima leaning on a boy a few years older than I, his right arm bleeding. I moved to help him when a blur of black rushed past me in a speed so fast, I barely saw it, the wind it built but a breeze.

I turned and saw it dash about the branches, disposing of the few surviving ones. I kept walking to the leader of the Academy Secret Corps, somehow knowing I'd be safe in the blur's hands. I heard a sickening crack and a gasp of death behind me. I spun around and found myself face to face with the point of a dagger which was obviously aimed at my back.

The man who held it, a large man with obvious muscles, a livid scar lining his cheek and his rugged face distorted in quick death. The dagger clattered to the ground, his hand losing its strength and letting it fall to the earth. He sank to his knees, eyes not seeing anymore. I saw a spike protrude from the neck, cutting off his pulse.

I looked up as I saw the spike connected to a boot heel, continuing up to a black boot, up black low-riders, a sleeveless ebony top and the last shock.

I found myself looking into the face of one Sakura Mikan.

I heard my whisper. "Mikan." Her blank, tiger-orange eyes regained their light and original brown-green color. Her face, pale from the loss of emotion, became rosy and full of sweet life. She pulled the heel with a disgusting _slick_ and looked up into my face. Her sad, blasé face lightened up in happiness as she threw herself at me.

"Natsume," she gurgled into my shirt which was rumpled and torn from abuse. "I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have lied to all of you! But I couldn't risk you and the others getting hurt if they found out you were like family! No…I wouldn't let any of you get hurt. But…I caused you even more pain when I left didn't I?" She went into another peal of tears.

"You're an idiot, you know that, Polkadots?" I said in a, God forbid, affectionate voice. I stroked her hair as my arms went around her in a brotherly embrace, as I thought of it. "I'd never let anyone get hurt, no one but me. I'd never let you go again." As if she knew it, she jumped from my grasp as Aki and that boy hobbled up. They looked at us puzzled, suspicious that something must have happened before they got there. They obviously dismissed it as they discussed something with Mikan and we went on our way.

I couldn't forget the warmth that small, sobbing form in my arms, even as she introduced the cold and robotic side of herself to me. She was like a militia uniform, spick and span, a no-nonsense self when duty called. Something troubled her eyes. I turned my eyes to the east.

The carriage and its tracks had disappeared into thin air.

--,--,--,--,

The pain in my arm and head throbbed painfully. The sight of Mikan conversing with the two other men was unraveling. She wasn't meant to be so like a War master, the visage of utter command didn't fit her. Her face, stern and concentrated, hid all emotion and memory of the sweet girl left behind so short a time ago. I closed my eyes, overwhelmed by the things that'd passed.

The rustle of bushes behind me put me on edge. I eased as I saw the little body of a squirrel run from the foliage. The bushes behind Mikan rustled in tune. I suspected another furry body of a rodent to scurry out. My gaze trailed to the black outfit she sported. The curve of her lithe body was enthralling. I ensured my face was as passive as it ever was, no emotion tracing my face. The color still flushed from my face as I imagined the fantasy of having that small body in my arms.

In the blink of an eye, I saw a knife fly from the bushes to sink into the soft flesh of her arm. It dug itself deep enough to have hit the bone. But I didn't hear a peep out of her mouth. She turned, her eyes dull, the orange of a tiger's eyes lighting the hazel-green of her eyes. She scanned the foliage, as if her eyes allowed her to look through objects.

She spotted the assassin and right then, I was relieved I wasn't in his shoes.

--,--,--,

I slammed Kyosuke against the hard wood of an oak. He was always a slime ball, licking crumbs of glory from the soles of my and Janus's boots. He was a common informant, unknown to those other than me and Janus. The charlatan was interested in how long the snake would survive, backstabbing every person he met. It was always a game to him. Nothing but a game; life wasn't important.

"Did you really think we didn't know, Kyosuke?" I hissed. "That your actions would go unnoticed by us? You are a bigger fool than I thought if you let that notion pass through your head. He knows everything that goes on in his own place."

"He didn't seem to mind it."

"Oh, is that what you thought?" I snarled. I tightened my hands on his collar. I was losing my humanity more and more. "I don't care about that now. I want to know where did the carriage go?!"

He did a foolish thing. He stuck a knife, another one, into my arm, a few centimeters from where he hit me the first time. I chuckled low and evilly, deep inside my throat. "Can you really think you can kill me? Janus is not the only one with fast healing powers. The Halogen changed more than the genetic makeup."

He smiled a smug smile. "You certainly have those powers, bitch. But unfortunately, Janus is the only one with immunity against poisons. Though I think he'd let me do more spying, he gave me a new mission for today. Slow you down with the poison. So, where he went? Just come to Nagoya when you're ready. That's where it all started right?"

And he disappeared.

If I could, I'd be breathing out fire by now. I hissed and pulled out the dagger lodged both back and front of my right arm. The poison would spread through my blood soon. I didn't have enough time. What was he preparing for?

We'd know soon enough.

--,--,--,--,

She strode back into the clearing where we'd made camp. She had that War master look on her face again, formal and emotionless. She barked orders, starting preparations for the move back to the Academy. I looked at the face of Hyuuga Natsume as we carried out her orders. Something in his eyes reflected a whorl of emotion, pent up and frustrating. Sakura's eyes couldn't have been more different. A sort of hidden secret of pain was in there somewhere within the layers of masks. Something she was keeping from us, something she didn't want us finding out.

She caught me staring, analyzing, and as if she was afraid of us learning that secret, she turned away quickly to pack the information we had collected today. I was curious and stepped silently towards to the tree which she'd hidden herself behind. From the shadows of the forest, I saw her lean against the bark, breathing heavily as if she'd been running a thousand miles.

Mikan held out her arm and I was startled to see red veins on her porcelain skin of white cream. They stood out starkly, evidence that something dire was wrong. She turned to me, knowing of course that I hid there. She looked at me with that pleading, frightening look she wore solemnly. "Do not tell anyone of this," she whispered warningly. "That bastard Kyosuke injected me with the nightsnake poison. Do not worry. I've survived it once." I opened my mouth to question that experience but she held up her hand. "I won't tell you what happened but it wasn't pleasant. Just go. I'll be fine."

I looked at her forlornly. She sighed in frustration and exhaustion. "Raion, this is an order. Remember, you gave your oath to obey the absolute orders I dish out. You leave me now and never speak of this, okay? Make sure you heed that or else I will exercise the powers I have." I closed my eyes and nodded reluctantly, given my solemn oath the backing it demanded. She was stubborn as ever.

When I opened my eyes again, she was gone.

--,--,--,--,--,

The sky was dark as night settled in. The Academy was running abuzz with the news of Natsume's return. I walked the brick road through the Academy grounds. My hands were stuffed in the navy blue sweatshirt-jacket I'd owned since I was twelve. The hood was pulled over my head, the curls of my hair swathing my cheeks. The night was cold, fall was coming. It seemed just a little while ago that summer was dancing in her spirit, warm and vibrant.

The leaves of the oaks were beginning their change from meadow-y green to the different, fiery shades of red, orange, umber and yellow. The wind chose that time to send a breeze to sway the trees, sending a colliery of leaves spiraling towards her. She reveled in the splendor of the season, wishing for the best.

"You know, someone once told me that spring was a time for new beginnings," I heard. I turned and found myself looking into the face of Hyuuga Natsume. His left arm was bandaged into a sling, fashioned out of medic cloths. A scar marred his cheek but promised to disappear in time.

"Yes, I know," I replied. "Unfortunately, its fall, not spring. I thought someone of your caliber would know that. That concussion might be at fault-"

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"-though I think Imai-sensei could fix that," I finished. "And I think that-"

"Damn it, Sakura!" he snapped. "Stop avoiding the question. Why didn't you tell us?"

"There's nothing to tell, Hyuuga," I said, looking at him dead in the eye. "In short, I'm dangerous, you should have the sense to leave me alone, I'm going to kill that bloody charlatan, and there's nothing you can do or say that will stop me! Clear?"

"Crystal."

There it was again. That same old indifferent, cold aloofness I'd prided myself in dispelling. Why did he have to undo all I had done in just a few sentences? I was at my end, looking for the escape to another dream, never finding it. I was so tired, so tired of this cat-and-mouse game I played with Janus and this verbal rounders with Natsume I always played. So, so tired, failing every time I tried to stop. I wanted to end this…forever.

"You know, Hyuuga," I said evenly, my fists clenched at my sides and I turned away from him, my hood falling back, causing my hair to billow in the frosty autumn wind. "I am seriously sick of your attitude. Is your life so horrible that you have to act like the world is ending? Maybe, yeah, you're not happy now, you're bound to the Academy. But one day, no matter if it's tomorrow or in the far-off future, you will be free of them one way or the other."

My control was inching off the edge of reason, that familiar ferocious aura coming into the light. I couldn't let myself slip like this. It would have terrible consequences. As I struggled to keep my reason, I continued. "But I will never be free of that charlatan. He's bound me in red chains, fated to forever be contracted to his will. Do you know the price I have to pay no matter if I didn't ask, look or wish this fate? The price of this curse is eternal bondage to that devil's spawn! Do I look as if I want this life? You are so lucky that you can have all this!"

I gestured to the school. "Sure, the weight of this school rests on your shoulders. The security is your responsibility, has been for so long that you've gotten used to the idea and don't mind it so much anymore. So, you've been used against your own will because your sister was used as blackmail material. So? You have your life to yourself to rule. So, you've been shoved into the shadows of life…you still have your friends to pull you back into sunlight. Sure, I thought I had those things…up until I had to face him again. So, still think your life isn't worth living?"

He wasn't looking at me. He looked at the dark night sky then at me. He looked as though a veil had been lifted but there was confusion still mixed in the revelations. I'd had enough. I loved him…enough to never need him. Then, I didn't know I was lying to myself. I walked forwards and placed my hands on his face. He deserved so much more. I was not worthy of ever loving or being loved by him.

I drew closer and softly kissed him, body, mind and soul all focused on the love I would never choose to tell him. I never could have a life with him if I was bound to Janus forever…and even after I was freed…the life I wanted would forever escape me. I let his lips free and looked into those eyes of pure ruby. I saw a slight gleam of shock I hadn't seen since that episode during the Christmas party when we accidentally kissed for the first time.

But that emotion was quickly replaced with emptiness.

"Treasure your emotions, Hyuuga," I told him quietly. "One day, they'll be the only things you can depend on." And I left, walked away, away from the person I cared as for as much as I cared about Jii-chan or Hotaru. And my tears fell when the shadows of the forest hid me.

For the past pains…

…and for what could have been.

--,--,--,--,

The dark man swathed in his customary black smiled evilly into the glass. There, the sword hung majestically, passed down from the greatest of kings, made by the same who forged Excalibur. He'd decided her fate, the fate she was doomed to if she was still bound to him.

If he couldn't have her…

…no one else would.

That was something he swore to himself he would ensure.

--,--, --,

The wars were something no one ever spoke of. They happened centuries before the beginning of the Academy. Maybe they were the beginning when the charlatan Janus was the traitorous, ambitious devil who thought by gaining the Immortality he had now, he could surpass the Powers That May Be. Sure, no one knew of the true Powers, lost so long ago in the Wars of the Kingdom. But one piece of vital knowledge was lost.

The secret of the Immortals would forever be gone from the world, known only to those who lived eternally.

The memory those six centuries was a pain in itself. I watched again as the memories passed through my mind's eye. The curse of the illusion of youth was the eternal life, never knowing peace; the life of a kind Immortal. Janus and Sakura weren't the only ones. I was tired; the mission had turned my strength torpid and I was slowly losing consciousness. The whispers of the secret still rang incandescently in my ears.

_Earth, wind, water, fire, spirit and soul. All will be nothing to the skin of the Immortal. Thus is the life of the cursed and blessed, never to know the paradise of the world. The price of the painless lives is eternal bondage to the charlatans; the Sinners, the Beginners of the Immortals. Should the larger price be paid, the freedom returned. But the price is heavy. For one life to be free…both must sacrifice the object they crave..._

I shuddered when I was told that secret. I would never want to succumb to desperation…so much desperation that I was willing to give up life. I wasn't. I knew Sakura had it in her to…she was willing enough and so unselfish; to rid the world of that charlatan and herself…

I closed my eyes and imagined death…and I let the streaks of salty water fall down my face…

_For one life to be free…both must sacrifice the object they crave...

* * *

_**A/N: So... what must they sacrifice...what is their crave...is it their wealth...or what????? and how will they go about it??**


	9. Holy Shit

**So...I havent uploaded for...a long long time...its getting longer i think in between...honestly...i am so happy i can upload this so...yay!! whoo!! okie. this is pretty uninteresting till the end and Ruka's POV is honest to god funny, Mikan's sarcastic with a capital S! so...ready for the action? the next chap is...uh...right...The God's Slaughter...so...have fun!! whooo!!! I will pro'bly upload...a month from now if im really lazy...so in advance, Happy Chinese New Year! The Year of the Rat!! ooo...and happy valentine's Day!!**

**The First Time In Many Many Many Chapters/Stories  
Me Dedicate This To...  
Drumroll  
RAINYPROMISE!!  
THANK YOU FOR INTO YOU, I GO  
BUT FOR PROPRIETY'S SAKE!!  
UPDATE EXODUS! PLEASE!!!!**

**_Note: The Author has recently consumed three cans of caffeine (Coca-cola) in one day so any screaming, yelling, shouting, laughing hysterically, flailing of arms and/or waving is warned of. Please do not panic...WHOO!!  
ONTO THE STORY!!  
_  
(PEOPLE! I HAVE ADDED MORE THE CHAPTER!! I HOPE YOU LIKE IT! WHOOOOo!!!)**

_

* * *

_

_What will it take to show you that it's not the life it seems?  
(I'm not okay)  
I told you time and time again you sing the words but don't know what they mean  
(I'm not okay)  
So be a joke and look, another line without a hook  
I held you close as we both shook for the last time take a good hard look!_

**I'm Not Okay (I Promise) by My Chemical Romance

* * *

**

**Chapter 9: Holy Shit**

The calm before the storm.

Many welcomed the relative peace that surrounded the Academy, the old routine which would never be the same. The darkness that'd tainted the pristine reputation of the institution was forever a danger to their lives. The whispers of a second War was on the lips of every student, the gossips becoming more terrorized with every repeat. The very foundation of their life was shaken to the core. The higher-ups were quiet, ordering no students to venture into the administrative building.

Meanwhile, Sakura Mikan was in the gossipers' spotlight. She was constantly the object of torture among the students, the junior and senior. But she was never around to listen to their complains. She was in the forests, the faint clang of metal resounding if you went close enough. I watched, as usual, as she attacked Aki again and again. I worried for Miura and Dalta. No word had been sent since…three weeks ago.

"Too slow!" she called out as she tapped the ornate sword against his knee. "I've just castrated you! Your age is no boundary, Tsukaima! Remember the Wars! The charlatan won't allow you time to simply plan his and your moves. He'll kill you the first chance he gets." They clashed together like wildcats, a new fury set in, their swords clanging the loudest sound the whole day.

Sakura still had that look that dictated her ease with commanding her weapon. It sang of her skill, the familiarity of swinging the weapon that had long been the trademark of the Janus assassins to wield, the symbol of their centuries on the planet. She fought brilliantly, no signs of difficulty on her face. Tsukaima, however, had a new determination in his eyes. A wild look of anticipation and ferocity had plastered itself onto his face. I watched as ferocity and skill took over their fight, grace weaved into their footsteps.

I didn't know from where Tsukaima had produced the two ornate swords from, but Sakura had been clearly satisfied., twirling the hilt and blade around as though it weighed no more than a feather would. "Eighteenth century?" was the only thing she asked, to which she received a nod. She swung it in the air and caught it again, a feat which caused me to not even bat an eyelash. You didn't have to see it to believe it when it came to Sakura Mikan. You knew and that's the end of it.

A week after the rescue mission and I hadn't seen Sakura stop training at all, besides when she slept, ate, or showered. She seemed to have an endless bounty of energy. Then again, so did the rest of us. The reserves of energy we had would lasts us for three days without sleep. I wasn't even really sure if Sakura was actually sleeping or working during the night. That cheer she had was nearly all gone, the barest glimpse of it after the rescue of Hyuuga and before the assassin's attack. She getting tired, sick and possibly be dying. I remembered the red veins climbing up her arm, a sign of the NightSnake poison, slowly killing her. It was slow in effect but it did its job. But the training, I knew, was done for three things. To ensure she would live to see another dawn and more to come; to make sure she had enough to end everything, and in avoidance of her friends.

She had never hurt anyone of them, not a single head of an Academy student nor a child, no one who wasn't an adult. Yet, she hid from the world, the pain of her unwanted past stinging like salt rubbed into a wound, practicing, training, refining, working, as if she hadn't done all that years ago, continuing the sweat when it should have stopped. She never hung out with them since returning from Shikoku, the future seeming bleaker to her. She avoided Hyuuga especially, as if he were the plague.

"More ferocity, Tsukaima!" I heard her call out. I sighed. She'd refined her skills; now she worked to refine that of others. "They ain't gonna be soft on you, so give me all you've got! If you lose to me, you have less a chance of killing the Janus troops! But if you draw with me, you have a very good chance of surviving!" Then, just as he was improving, gaining a chance of beating me, Raion, four places below Sakura, he made that one fatal mistake, the one she'd been trained and made famous for deflecting, never being beaten by such a move, a last resort of the desperate, an act of fear.

He charged his sword against her.

I saw the fury and disappointment light up in her eyes before she drew her stance. She twirled her sword in her hand, and clashed it with his charging point. Twisting her arm back, she sent Tsukaima's sword flying out of his hand, throwing out of range and it landed in the ground, the hilt protruding upwards. She held her sword point to his throat. She traced the point down all the way to his heart, the metal barely grazing his clothes and skin. "Never charge, attack, nor slander me or Janus without a battle plan, unless you have a death wish!" she yelled, her voice growing louder with ever word. "We can disarm you in our sleep if need be with that move coming at us." She glared menacingly. "I've killed thousands who have been foolish enough or desperate enough to attempt such a suicidal move.

She slide her hands down to the pommel of her sword, trusting the blade into the soil. With her newly acquired cutlass she obtained from a Forging Alice and a strange katana she'd brought with her since Janus all those years ago, she turned and began to walk home, fury settled in her eyes and spirit, then she stopped walking and a breeze gently ruffled her hair and the green, green grass of the glen. "But all in all…you'll survive, I suppose. Just don't expect to beat me or Janus. I leave the demise of Hirazuki Idare as the priority number one to you." Then, she disappeared beyond the bend.

"She has many faces, that Sakura," I commented thoughtfully, imagining the small smile that had played itself demurely on her face. I continued watched the bend, as if she would suddenly appear and return, a smile rather than a blank face in hand. "One minute, I see the lost little girl of four years old, looking for a way in life and the next, a fiery warrior with no mercy to spare. Then, she is a strategy-genius and a Warmaster, the one with the peace and calm of an undiscovered lake, later, a bubbly girl, ecstatic with life, smiling sunshine. I feel like…we'll never know who she is really."

"She's hiding something, Raion," I heard. I swirled around to also see Aki Tsukaima watching the bend forlornly, wondering. "There's something she's not telling us…" He turned to me. "And you know what it is." I stared back at him and contemplated to speak what I knew. I stopped myself a whisker away. I turned and began trudging away. I apologized solemnly in my heart for the lies that had set the world spinning.

* * *

--,--,--,--, 

The training for me did not stop after that tussle with Aki. True enough, his strength was growing, but not enough to kill anyone of a higher rank than Hirazuki Idare. His inability to control his emotions-passion, contrariness, humanity, anger, rage, despair-was a weak flaw in his actions. Raion was growing anxious. The fact that Dalta and Miura hadn't contacted anyone in nearly a month was distracting in itself.

But something still bugged me to the brink of reason…

The incorrigible notion that they could and would kill him by simply shooting him with a Cobalt or a .48 or else by gutting him with a simple sword had me nearly shrieking in exasperation. The cockiness was seriously getting to me. As I headed towards the archery grounds, I felt about of exhaustion slam into me, nearly sending me to my knees.

I didn't sleep anymore. At least not like a normal human. Which I definitely wasn't. the most I lay unconscious for was for two or three hours, and even then, I didn't sleep the peaceful, silent sleep of the exhausted. No, I abhorred sleeping. Especially when the nightmares came to haunt me. The images of a haunting ebony liquid filled my mind, the pain of a pressure against my chest, the horrendous hours of the changing of my body kept me trapped in the one place I couldn't escape from: my mind. I woke up, sweaty, flashes of memory of that night, snatches of pain that I still remembered, my year old mind growing to the intelligence of a genius.

I watched as the wind ruffled the grass, slowly lifting my hair, the long locks in disarray. I never really like my hair that way. The long locks always reminded me of him, always teasing me about how I looked like a china doll. He forbade me from cutting my hair and I detested the fact that even when I was no longer a Janus operative, I continued that order. No more. I wasn't going to be a plaything for anyone. I am my own person. I would swear to that.

* * *

--,--,--,--, 

We had an audience. And Sakura was clenching her fists around her hilt, muttering swears and curses. We'd been fighting as usual, this time me using a pair of knives and her, a spear. She breathed a sigh of frustration and launched her attack. "I don't care," I heard. Kokoroyomi stood a few feet away, watching the lithe form of Sakura jump into the air for her attack. "If this is the only way to show them I am too dangerous for them to let me stay here, then I'll do it." I was vaguely aware of my widened eyes as I lifted my arm to block the spear.

"Don't do this, Sakura," I heard myself growl. "You can't force them to see the lies as the truth."

"What lies?" she demanded as she charged to gut my leg. She failed but grazed my left elbow when I parried the attack. "It's true. I'm a monster. You've seen how I can effectively kill a man with nothing but a toothpick! So, why lie to them and just act subdued? They'll come to their senses if you won't!"

I felt the swords fly out of my hand but before I felt her sword poking me, telling me of my defeat, I heard a different clash of metals. I opened my closed eyes and found Hyuuga kneeling in front of me, a calm gaze pointed at Sakura. In his hand, the dagger that had blocked my utter embarrassment was holding the spear at bay. "Hold it, Polkadots…you don't really want to kill him, now?"

"Of course not, Hyuuga," she snarled (!!!!!). "I just had utter humiliation of the highest order in mind. But what the hell are you doing here." By the looks of it, from my angle on the ground, he was smirking. "You had something to do with this crowd, don't you, Hyuuga?"

"Of course," he said, mimicking her earlier phrase. "I was wondering if the infamous Monster Mikan would have a duel with me. Unless she's too afraid to lose?"

"Don't bet your money on it, Natsume-_chan_," she said, ferociously using the suffix Persona had dubbed him with, sending him into spirals of rage. "I think you're hoping I'll back down since _you're_ the one who's afraid of losing."

"Fine, so five minutes in the dance quad?"

"Make it fifteen, you've got a duel," she said. "I've got to get something in my weaponry, I mean, room," she quickly amended, never missing a beat. "And some…precautions so I don't…hurt you too much. Later, Hyuuga. Run away if you want. I won't call you a coward, since you aren't one, that much I remember." She picked up her spear and swept away, creating a ridge in the crowd of students, all of which were gazing in awe at her, never seeing such prowess in anyone besides Natsume.

"I guess I ticked her off," said person with a shrug. "Didn't seem to take a lot to set her off today."

"She's…pissed at the crowd you concocted. I mean…dude, what you do? Put an add in the newspaper?" Raion explained. "But considering the circumstances, I think her anger's justified. I mean, they're not supposed to know. Don't you think that a campus-wide panic would happen if they did know?"

He just shrugged and smirked. Does the dope have some kind of…jaded, I-don't-care-about-the-school thing? "By the way, did she say she was preparing so she wouldn't hurt me too much?"

"Yeah, I think she did." At his rolled eyes, I sighed. "Believe it or not, Hyuuga, she wasn't really trying just now. Those attacks? Yeah, they're like riding a bike to her; a natural instinct. She can kill easily…remember when we rescued you? Yeah, that orange colour of her eyes was a sign she has less mercy than most then. She has this thing the Halogen did to her than strengthened her to a four year-old's capacity of body and a thirty-year old genius so, she's practically in human now."

"Wait, so she's like…twenty now?" he asked, somewhat amusingly alarmed.

"No," I answered. "Her age is the same…just the maturity level is…high. She said when she reached the age of four, her chronological clock began ticking properly. She's still sixteen so you still have plenty of similarities between you and your girlfriend." I heard him grit out a she's-not-my-girlfriend denial. Typical.

"Hey, Tsukaima," Raion called. I turned to him and he was fairly curious and alarmed. "Just then, did she say…weaponry?"

Holy shit.

* * *

--,--,--, 

I trailed after Sakura after she pulled on my hand to follow her. I thought I was coincidence that I was the person she'd chosen to ask to come along. I saw that sad look in her eyes as we walked towards (oddly) the direction of Narumi-sensei's house. She walked brusquely, not caring where she walked, not that it mattered. Just as Narumi-sensei's house came into view, she snapped.

"Who does he think he is?!" she snapped. She practically kicked the door open and walked past a grinning Narumi, muttering a soft hello and went back into hellion mode. She whirled on me. "I mean, do I look as if I want to hurt him? NO! Because, if I could, I'd would rather be six feet under and blissfully be uncaring about the world! Tell me, Koko, what do you think I am?"

I gaped at her and recomposed myself. Of all I knew of her now, her past, her pains, her aches, I knew what she was and then some. "I think…you've been used. I know it's sappy and cliché…but honestly…I understand. I didn't go through your entire life and not get anything from it, you know." I saw tears welling up in her eyes and she hugged me.

"Thanks, Koko," she whispered. "I'm sorry for all I've done…so sorry."

I patted her comfortingly on the back. "It's okay. Well, we better get ready. You wanna kick the sense out of Hyuuga's ass right?" She smiled and wiped the tears with her sleeve.

"Right. I'll show him…not to cross my orders. Meanwhile, I've got to get Saiorsei." I looked at her funny and she smiled as if to say 'it will all be revealed in time'. I followed her to the back of the house, out to the yard. She pressed her palm into a carving on an oak tree and the carving revealed to be a sort of depression. Shock was the first thing that came to mind. Metal walls sprang up all over the backyard, creating a maze of sorts. The oddest thing was, weapons of all sorts were strapped, chained, tied, hooked, displayed and encased on the wall.

Geez…talk about paranoid.

"Koko, welcome to my domain of weapons," she said, with a sweeping bow, a playfulness I hadn't seen for a long time. "Raion transferred all my old weapons from the headquarters here so I could be prepared. Feel free to look but don't touch unless you want to be castrated or something." She disappeared behind three walls.

I had to admit, it was definitely…spectacular. I saw three types of bows, forty arrows (I counted), four dozen types of guns (those I also counted), six maces, those buzzer thingies that police use, fifty types of daggers, ten kegs of poison…and…

…a whole section devoted to three hundred types of swords! (Okay, those, I read from the sign in front of the hall of swords, as I call it.) I found Sakura there amongst the very pointy, sharp, pain-inducing, deadly swords. Not a comfort I assure you. Holding a mahogany box, she smiled wistfully at the katana that lay inside. It was old, an etching of a moon and sun on the blade.

"Lunar's Light," I breathed, recalling the sword from my memory banks…or rather, her memory banks. Lunar's Light was the translation of Saiorsei from ancient Welsh.

"Yeah," she said. "It saved my life all those years ago. Thank God…Maki found it for me." She glanced at the empty hooks in a very obvious place of honour. "The God's Slaughter. I need to find it…soon." She took Lunar's Light and headed out of the maze with accuracy.

We headed towards the quad…

…where three hundred cheering students sat.

* * *

The man smirked as the gleaming orb in his hand glowed a silvery white. The imaginary, legendary and every other -ary sword was right in his grasp, that fool gypsy with the Sight his blessing. He thanked his stars for all the luck he's been bestowed. Then again, he'd thank them even more if they'd handed him his Hemorrhage on a silver platter. But if they did that, it take out all the fun of the chase. So, he'd bide his time. 

"Hirazuki!" he barked. The suave, handsome boy of seventeen waltzed into the room. The man threw the ball towards the him. "Get the Slaughter. I want it back here in a week or don't bother coming back here unless you want yourself on the rack or castrated. And...if Sakura shows up...tell her...I'm patiently waiting for whatever she throws at me. And pray...that whatever she throws at me be good. Wouldn't want my best student failing right?"

The man could see the rage of being second to her rage in his eyes. But the obedience thumped into his self was in control. For now. Hirazuki smiled, the falsehood clear as day. "Yes, sir, certainly wouldn't."

"Right. Now go. Remember...seven days."

Hirazuki placed his palm on his heart and bowed. He disappeared through the doorway, rage filling him.

* * *

TT … TT…TT (**BDW, This 'TT' refers to the look of Tamaki's Bear-chan from Ouran so look out for it! it basically means that...that person is annoyed...hehe...remember!)**

She was twitching. I could see it every time the **H.N.R.N.F.C.** (**H**yuuga **N**atsume and **R**uka **N**ogi **F**an **C**lub) went, "Go Natsume-sama! You can kick Sakura's ass!" I will not say it's not…admirable, their devotion, I mean. But I _will_ say, I don't exactly disagree with her. I mean, considering how I'm not going out with Hotaru, they'd at least leave me out of the name! And…I wholeheartedly am with her. I mean, it's just down right creepy how they say that phrase over and over again in perfect synchronisation, never missing a beat, never having leftover voices later!

Weird much?

Anyway, I watched as Natsume stood in the quad's solid cement ground and, although I am his best friend, prayed that Sakura would go easy on him. I mean, you don't get the image of yourself being castrated and have that act be called pie in front of you! I will and forever will be Natsume's best friend but this match…was just plain stupid. I mean, she's practically born to kill. However, she is my friend, so I call her skill so damn, totally cool. But I am saying that was a complete nutso idea because I care for his wellbeing.

So, as Natsume twirled his normal sword around like it was a feather. I felt a little better now, recalling how good he was. Koko stepped in between the two, each a good five feet from said mind reader. "Okay, duel is three out of five. So you two okay? Right. Get ready!" Natsume grasped the hilt in a ready stance. Mikan just stood there, her katana in her hand, no signs of preparation. "GO!"

Natsume began moving, charging really, towards her, point forward. I heard Tsukaima shout from somewhere, "Bad strategy man!" Mikan visibly smiled at the prospect. She lifted her sword hand and it…ignited with fire.

Holy shit.

Natsume was definitely toast.

I watched as she easily caught the blade of Natsume's sword and twisted it back. The sword flew out of his hand, but she just flew towards him, using her leg to kick him back, not too hard, but merely to throw him to the opposite side where she'd originally been, sprawled on the ground. "Round one…Sakura!"

A round of cheers went round amongst the boys. Much to Hotaru's and my chagrin.

This went on (charging and flinging) till round three. He managed-barely, mind you-to cast her onto the ground. So…finally it was two to one. One more and Sakura would win. Then, I saw Hotaru smirking. I asked her what was up. "She's not trying," she said. I looked closely from my seat on the bench near the quad. As a matter of fact, she was right. On Mikan's face, there was a smirk of pure triumph, nothing to show she was angry. She was playing it close. The next thing I knew, she threw the next round too. So, it was two to two. There was barely a bead of sweat on her face, the definite contrast of my best friend's.

Round three.

OMG!

She stood there and leaped into the air. It was like…she was there… then he wasn't. she was behind him and with that orange gleam in her eyes, she held the blade to his throat. And whispered something I could only hear with the help of Hotaru's Listening Transmitter. "I never lose to anyone but Janus, Hyuuga." She let him slide to the ground…and the three hundred spectators went up in a cheer.

She let the fire (!!) fade and walked away with Kokoroyomi. She stopped when Raion came running to her. He seemed to babble to her something we couldn't hear, having been way out of range. Her eyes seemed to widen and she grasped the hilt of her katana as if it were her life line…

…and took off running with Raion and Koko towards Tsukaima's office.

Naturally, the three of us followed diligently.

* * *

Two hands came slamming onto my desk. I was mildly surprised. I knew this was coming…but that fast? I really shouldn't underestimate the speed of these Janus operatives/rebels/refugees. To my right, was Koko, leaving the duel earlier after Raion had explained it to him. He'd come with all haste, only to be halted into waiting. 

"Where is it, Tsukaima?!" she demanded. "Where is The God's Slaughter?!!"

"Nagoya Prefecture," I said calmly, just as Imai, Nogi and Hyuuga rushed in after.

Sakura promptly turned grey.

Beside me, Kokoroyomi swore.

"Holy shit."

* * *

I walked through the dimly lit halls of the Janus operative building. I had heard just about the most heart-killing news f the night. They'd found the God's Slaughter and three of the top operative were being sent to the scene of Nagoya Prefecture's northern mountains. I'd sent a missive to the rebels in the Academy to warn them of the discovery. It was more or less the twin of the sword Janus had hanging in his office. Everything we'd worked for would crumble if the twins were reunited. 

More or less, I was worried about the other rebels; Dalta and Kaitou were overseeing the process of slowing the operatives down with Dalta's gift of magic. I, on the other was on the way to gather more information. The movements of Hirazuki Idare had been strange. Sakura had asked me to keep an eye one him, said person being the main target of asssassination after Janus. We'd been tracking him for days, ensuring he would walk right into Sakura's path...his distruction. I'd moved briskly to the room where the visitor I'd requested a meeting with a week ago waited. Knowing my plan worked, everyone else would think he was just a mere informant. He was much more than that.

In the dark inquisition room where no spoken word would escape, a man in a dark cloak sat, patiently waiting. His face was sheathed in a pure white mask, the black ice looking at me, a preadator's. Persona was the definite brother of Janus. Both using names of well-known charactars, their names seemed to strike fear into the very hearts of men. He sat on the cool metal chair, feet crossed and steaming cup of tea in front of him. Even sitting like that, he was a fearful adversary. "I need you to tell them that the Janus operatives are moving into the mountains of the north in a week. Leading them," he said, "You must tell Sakura this as it is seriously important. You have to tell her Hirazuki Idare is leading them there."

"Lovely," he answered in that oily voice of his, "I've been reduced to a snivelling messenger. Fine. But, Shikita? I have some information for you. In the event of when I die, I need to give you the information of the secret. Yes, I know it's late, but better late than never right? Right." He leaned towards me and whispered a lilting song. "Earth, wind, water, fire, spirit and soul. All will be nothing to the skin of the Immortal. Thus is the life of the cursed and blessed, never to know the paradise of the world. The price of the painless lives is eternal bondage to the charlatans; the Sinners, the Beginners of the Immortals. Should the larger price be paid, the freedom returned. But the price is heavy. For one life to be free…both must sacrifice the object they crave..."

"What the heck does that mean?"

"You'll figure it out soon enough," he said. Out of his palms, black fog similar to Janus's began whirling around him. "Meanwhile, I must go and write out my epitaph. How's this? Beloved sensei to Natsume-chan, fantastic sorcerer of Dark Arts, Brother to a Egocentric Idiot. I quite like it. What do you think? "

"I think it's rather...much for a deluded moron such as your self," I said flippantly. By then, he was disappearing into his fog, the cruel sound of his amused laugh languidly punchuating the air with a depressing humour. What the hell did that riddle mean?

* * *

**A/N: You know, i never get tired of that song...play it while Mikan is fighting with Natty...it seriously coolio...ooo...since i dun get to dance around like crazy coz they'll think its nuts im doing that...i will be happy with your reviews! hinthint..hehe...**


	10. Pretend Like You're Immortal

* * *

HELLO people!! im so sorry this was so late! i hope you're stil with me!! i hope so...hehe...right, so...how you been? this story is losing a little of its traction but it'll be fine!! ( i hope) so...bear with me and visit my fictionpress site! i have written a new story and its three chapters so far...plenty more soon!!...i gtg..i promise more soon...!! for fictionpress...go to , search for blase contradiction! okay?? and my blog!! oooooo!! my blog!! erm... oh yes! www.sweetdamnation. !! link me!!

-Love you Lots,  
Blase ;P

_

* * *

__You're immortal_

Gone, like yesterday is gone,  
Like history is gone,  
The world keeps spinning on,  
Your going, going gone,  
Like summer break is gone,  
Like Saturday is gone  
Just try to prove me wrong  
You pretend like you're immortal

**Gone by Switchfoot**

**Chapter 10: Pretend Like You're Immortal**

_**1026**__**, Rome, Italy**_

_Emmanuel looked up at the start__ling gathering of confused men and women as he was led up the steps of the concrete quadrangle by an iron-clad soldier. The fires lit at every point danced eerily in the background. Each one of them, eight in all, stood at a cardinal point in the silver wrought circle, formed on the ground. A man, garbed in the silver-black robes of a necromancer, walked into the circle, carrying a silver pot of white powder and another pot of black sand. _

_The man who'd invited him here, Escariot was his apparent name, sat upon one of the flat-topped columns that surrounded the quadrangle. He gestured to the last empty spot, the North point. Each point had an engraved letter; N for North, S for South, E for East, W for West and every other was like NE for North East. Emmanuel gazed at it curiously. _

_Escariot rose and raised his hands up in mocking welcome. "As Brother Emmanuel, our Northern Guardian has arrived, let us evoke the powers of our powerful and mighty god, Judas!" A murmur of shock ran through the circle, Emmanuel's eyes widening at the name. Judas, the black sheep, was worshipped by a cult as the bringer of peace, the cult called the Apostles of Immortals. They were rumored to be a cult filled with madmen and women, blasphemy being their highest crime. _

"_What are you talking about, Escariot?" a man standing at the West point shouted. "No one but those heretic Apostles call that godforsaken man a god! Who are you? A blasphemed man, searching for something to do?"  
_

_Escariot chuckled low in his throat. "I do believe you've gone over the edge, Waverly." The man waved his hand and Emmanuel found all of them all chained to the ground by shining gold chains. He struggled to get himself released as the others did likewise. "But unfortunately, as we are currently running out of time, I have to hurry this up. You see, there's this thing about the moon. It allows those who wait for its time wonderful powers. I am here…to leave behind my heritage."_

"_So you sacrifice us?" a woman from the South point shrieked. Her blond hair was messed up badly, a sign that she'd been vigorously struggling to be set free. "Yes," Escariot said. He turned to Emmanuel. "This man, he is your new leader. The last one to stand…the first to rise!" He laughed maniacally and from his hands, eerie shots of green light rose to the sky. "It's time to embrace your destiny! Not as the creator but as my servants! When this is over, you'll thank me! You'll live eternally and bring more into the circle! Continue my legacy!" _

_The spot where he'd shot the green beams of light bounced back and hit the centre of the circle, the light flowing to the cardinal points like poisonous liquid. As the beams hit each person, they gave out a cry of pain. Four crumpled to the ground and Emmanuel instantly knew they were never going to see tomorrow. Only those at the four main cardinal points were standing. He felt something like his thread of life being stretched away from him, finally gone. But he wasn't dead yet. _

_The pain abruptly stopped. _

_Escariot jumped down and met him, pulling him up, opening his eyes to the non-existent bonds that once held him. He gripped Emmanuel's forearm and gave him a homecoming smile that spoke of no warmth. "Welcome, brother, to eternal existence." Emmanuel's world had come spiraling downwards…and to the glorifying reaches of hell. _

* * *

_**Alice Academy, present day**_

The lights burned late into the night as she poured over the documents of information Miura had provided the day Tsukaima received the information about the sword. I had followed her everywhere, becoming her companion with Hotaru who insisted on following also. This was our life since the day she caught my hand and confided in me. The days passed in the telling of tales and the clashing of arms. The noticeable anger in her eyes was a telltale sign of the despair she felt. Hotaru and I stuck by her, though.

She continued to pour over the books the Academy deemed restricted, deep in the bowels of the school no one knew of. They told of legends of immortals and magic we thought was just poppy-cock. To her…it was life itself. Maybe we'd never understand truly the disaster that was her world…but we'd walk with her all the way.

The whole group (Mikan, me, Hotaru, Ruka, Natsume, Raion, Tsukaima, Yuu and Narumi) sat in a circle, a fire burning in the fireplace nearby. She had just told us the tale of a man called Emmanuel. She had memorized the whole thing by heart and I wondered if Janus knew Emmanuel. Mikan had spoken of him dispassionately, the effect clearly showing she didn't care about his fate. Natsume was listening but he sat a little ways off, watching the flames dance elegantly. He hadn't said much in the past three days and the certainly wasn't going to change anytime soon.

"So…Emmanuel lived for roughly seven centuries after that, watching, listening, patiently abiding his time," she continued after a pause. The night outside was calm, the peace the relative feeling after the duel three days ago; the wild rumors on the other hand were…well, getting out of hand. "He walked with humans, learned their sins, and in the end, he thought he was too good to live like this, no way to pass on his legacy. He described Escariot's treachery as a genius's work; magic even. It was common knowledge among the other Immortals, Emmanuel was becoming as demented as Escariot before he was condemned to the hellfire he'd spent practically his whole life avoiding. So…when Emmanuel found out…he sought to destroy them…"

_**Edinburgh, Scotland, September 11, 1715**_

_James strode into the room where the man in the black cloak stood, gazing into the fire. There were rumors circulating the man the servants whispered about. They said they swore he talked to their Master about the things he saw in a little island called Malawi…in the year 1334. They said he had very nearly seen the dawn of time and everything. James dismissed everything the servants said. Not to be trusted they were.__ But most of all…they all feared him. _

_James didn't blame them. He too feared Emmanuel at first. He had frightening powers he couldn't explain and his mindset was demented. Now, he had handed out orders for three specific people to be murdered. He had said their names with an evil, gruesome amusement. _

_The first was Saiorsei Medina, a young girl who had grown up on the island of Cyprus. He had said her name with a different voice, a sort of infatuated maniacal voice. He described her the way he'd described a china doll or something; dark cascading curls of midnight, rosy lips, the color of summer roses, and porcelain skin of a Meissen ballerina and the clear blue eyes of colored Dresden glass. He was more or less speaking like she was an object, not a human being, immortal or mortal. He wanted her burnt at the stake, convicted as a witch. Then, he named a newly-forged katana that name. _

_The second, was a man called Waverly O'Ryan. He lived in the outskirts of Ireland, the nearest one to kill. He described Waverly as a man with no ethics, much less intelligence. The shaggy brown hair and infinite black eyes were how he was supposed to identify him. He was to be cut down to pieces with a scythe and then, his pieces burned. _

_And finally, the third, was a man named Hachen McDean, a quiet man who lived in the West Indies. He was supposedly a quiet man who lived his days with no human interaction whatsoever. Red-haired and green-eyed, he was to be murdered kindly with the gentle graces of deadly nightshade. _

_The three had one thing in common. A secret method of killing Emmanuel had told him no one but he, his brother and precious other few should know. He told him to take three men, all useless varmints who didn't know a day's work, all who gave their jobs and enticed others to do. They were used this way in the so-called name of justice. _

_Just a month later, seven people were reported dead. One woman, Saiorsei Medina was found charred and a hole pierced in her gut. A man, Waverly O'Ryan, had been cut up and burnt, but a large piece of skin suggested he was first stabbed. Another, Hachen McDean, was poisoned, his nightshade-induced black blood spilling out of the hole in his heart. Another baffling enigma, James Fadden was found handing by his neck off a cliff, a rope securing him to a branch. The other three, Kierran Langley, Damien Sands and Pierce Everly all died of the same consequence. A knife stab in their bodies. _

_**Nagoya Prefecture, present day**_

The walls of Shinigami Incorporated was raised high, an oddity for a company who specialized in funeral planning. I thought the world at that point was off its axis. I mean, I get wedding planners but funeral planners? Is this place filled with crackpots? I glanced around and caught sight of Mikan and Koko conversing quietly in a corner. She had this forlorn look on her face since the day she's told us our tale. So, the deaths of seven people in a month was apparently the doing of one man. Sickening.

She disappeared with Koko for a moment as I bent to talk to Tsukaima. He seemed calm, a rare emotion for him these days. "Don't you seem chipper?" I asked him, wryly.

He beamed at me, confirming my suspicion. "Of course! I mean, it's not like we're in any danger here! It's not like Janus is here!"

"What?"

"He's not here."

"What are you talking about, Tsukaima?" I demanded. "Your spies specifically said that his base was here and that he would be here to collect the sword. So, why wouldn't he be here?"

"Oh, didn't we tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

Tsukaima looked at me as if I had just sprouted two heads. "Mikan and I scoured through the history of Escariot and the Apostles of Immortals that the Academy kept in secret. Believe me, there's barely anything. According to the Lament of Escariot, the legend goes that the deaths of Immortals must be done on 'the ground of beginning', in other words, Castella Valley, Rome, Italy." He grinned at me as my jaw dropped.

"So does that mean…" I stuttered.

"Yup," he said, his grin staying plastered on his face, but this time, amusement played in his eyes. "All our fear was of no use." How could he say something like that and not look…at all frustrated?? Maybe all the stress has gone to his head and he's now seeing rainbows and rabbits…. Then, he turned that grim facial expression I had become so used to seeing. "But, that doesn't change the fact that Janus has sent out troops."

"Hirazuki Idare." We spun and saw Sakura walk out of the shadow of the forest. But we saw someone entirely different. No longer were long curls of auburn and mud framing a face of sweet innocence and harsh ignorance. We were looking at a young woman of sixteen, hair chopped to her shoulders, mimicking the style of one Yuka Azumi, her face no longer the soft, adorable child but now, all angles and sharp facial features. We no longer saw Sakura Mikan. Now, we saw Hemorrhage. "He's here."

_**Nagoya Prefecture**__**, Japan, January 7, 1988**_

_The bubbling silver liquid, reminiscent of the chemical they called quicksilver, shone eerily in the dark of the metal-paned room. A young man, an ingenious scientist named Faust de Lebaun, named after the madman in Homer's Odyssey, __sat at the silver-topped lab table that held the contents of his chemistry set. He grinned as his eyes probed the silver liquid, examining the swirling water. They say that genius is only a fine line away from madness. He was the epitome of this phrase. _

_Setting the flask on the table in the tripod stand, a place of honor on the table, he recalled the day when a strange man had walked into his humble home in the slums of Tokyo. The man had a sallow face, lines of sadness and grief, happiness and joy, anger and fear etched into his seemingly ageless face. But he was only twenty-nine. But his eyes…oh, his eyes of that fantastic color of violet were full of one emotion that defined his entire being; the essence of what he truly was. _

_Evil thundered in those fantastic eyes. _

_Such darkness that threatened to overtake the true being that he was. Faust had found that power terrifying and awesome, a need to be like that overpowering his sense. He wanted life, eternal and forever, to be recognized as an equal of Machiavelli, Botticelli, da Vinci, Fibonacci… The magician, Faust… That's who he wanted to be. _

"_Give me the power to create a weapon as powerful as gods, and I'll give you to the glory of heroes," this man had said. He called himself Janus, the god of gates…he thought he would start a new era, of power and eternals. Faust thought him a visionary. Mad as they were…they deserved each other. So, he toiled for days and night and after three years of blood, sweat and tears, he created Halogen…the power of the gods._

_That night, he'd unveil his discovery. Everything he'd worked for and he'd show his partner in power the means to glory. Then, he heard the silent cry of a child and the gentle crooning of a man's rough voice. Janus strode in, his aura preceding over like a heavy blanket of fear. Behind him, a man with a hard face carried an infant, barely a week old and placed it on the table, a blanket as a makeshift bed. A girl. Large hazel-green eyes probed his face, seemingly looking into his soul as if it were no more than glass. Faust never felt more naked, although he was cloaked in lab coat, sweater, shirt and undershirt due to the weather conditions. _

"_This is our newest project," Janus announced. "Her name is…Hemorrhage. She's our test subject and our greatest weapon, if your discovery proves right. Now, shall we begin?"_

_Faust gaped at him. He was all in when it came to his glory. But a child? No more than a week old! This was pure madness. He voiced this out to Janus and the man's face became an emotion, a mix of amusement and fury. "Yes, Faust, this is my plan. If you want a person you can train and discipline easily, the process must be started early. Training the child from birth is the fastest way."_

"_But-but…"_

_Janus sighed and drew his short dagger__. "If you cannot cooperate, I'm afraid that we must dispose of…useless garbage." Faust felt a sharp pain in his stomach, then as blackness began to envelope him, he saw the man that'd murdered him. "I cannot tolerate the unworthy. You die this day."_

_As the man fell to the ground, Janus picked up a syringe and filled it with the silvery liquid. "My little changling," he crooned evilly as the baby began to writhe and cry. "It's alright. It'll only hurt for a little while. You'll be the strongest weapon ever created. My little Hemorrhage."_

_**Shinigami Incorporated, Nagoya, present day**_

The walls of the funeral planners wasn't an easy climb, let me tell you. I struggled with just throwing the hook over the side. Then again, the added strength helped. Now, I was halfway up, the rest of the still a quarter of a way down. Hyuuga was only a meter below me as we continued. The thumping of my heart increased as I thought of the sword; no one had seen it in over a hundred years. I was going to use it to kill the person who brought nothing but misery to my life.

Droplets of sweat dotted my face as I reached the top. I saw what lay before me was anything but a funeral planning management. A sprawling fifteen hundred acres of grass, sand and rock lay in front of my eyes. "The Shinigami Incorporation's boss, Yoshima Ryozuki is obsessed with the samurai age. He bought this house and created his incorporation. A Japanese-esque house serving as a funeral planning agency? Pssh," Raion explained. I turned and saw him looking at me, a sort of curiosity in his eyes. "You're going to have to accept that we're not going to leave you behind. You know that right?" The others were still below. Raion was the only one with the closest capabilities I have. I smiled a little.

"Yeah," I said quietly. "I thought I wouldn't be able to get rid of you guys anytime soon."

He chuckled. "So, what's the game plan?"

"I'm trying something called divide and conquer." I stopped his protest when I saw the annoyance on his face. "No, no, I'm not going about this alone. You'll take Hyuuga and Tsukaima to the lower grounds and start kicking the butt of every guard you see. Make a commotion so big, that not a single person can ignore it. I'll sneak into the upper rooms where the sword is apparently kept and then I'll get out. No danger…to me at least."

He smiled wryly. "Yeah, it makes me feel so much safer," he said dryly. I smiled and took in the subtle brightening of his face. Did I really smile so rarely nowadays? During the days of the past, I used to find smiling so easy. I made a grinned and put up my fingers in a peace sign before leaping into action.

"That Sakura," I heard him faintly say before I was swallowed into the dark of Shinigami Incorporated. I listened and baited my time. Resting my head against the bark of tree I rolled up the sleeves of my medieval-sleeve sweater. The red veins that looked like the internal image of a human body had spread, crisscrossing over my arm and went on the cover my body. I breathed heavily. I sneaked a potion from Nonoko's stash called 'Numbing'. It was apparently to keep any illness at bay for a time and energy limit.

That was why I was partly so scared. If I overexerted myself tonight, the possibilities of the NightSnake poison activating in my body was pretty high. I was afraid…I wouldn't have the chance to kill the man who made my life a living hell. No. I wouldn't die…not of this petty poison. Be delayed yes…but I would never give up.

"Hello, Sakura."

I looked up into the cold eyes of Hirazuki Idare.

_**Nagoya, Japan, March 8, 1992**_

_Hemorrhage threw her coach onto the ground for the twenty-sixth consecutive time that day. Frustration had wrung her of all her patience. She was constantly thinking of the man she saw in a cell and had snarled at her. "You are a godforsaken heretic!" he screamed at her. He pointed at her. "What sort of human are you? Why do you kill people so senselessly and not even bat an eyelash? Are you human?!" _

_She ran away from that man that day. Then, went to see him again the next day. She recalled seeing him so thin, gaunt…like he hadn't had a single piece of sustenance or water in days. She gave him bread. He looked at her warily like he thought the food was poisoned. But the innocence, the fear and the lessons taught from birth was all that was in her eyes. No true intention to kill. Like she killed only because she had been brought up to. In return, he taught her. _

_He taught her the beauties of life, the right and the wrongs, confusing her with all he said. She knew he spoke the truth. But why? Killing was a sin. She did it nearly always. How could something she knew as a second instinct be so…evil? Did Janus lie to her for all these years? _

_Three months later, the man, Ulrike, was killed, decapitated. Hage watched from a distance. That day, she made the decision that would change her life and others in turn. She turned to Janus, one last time. "Emmanuel," she said. "What is the difference between good and evil?" _

_The man, clothed in his usual mask and ebony cloak looked at her curiously. "Well, Hage, if you must know, evil is simply braver and better than good. That's all you need to know."_

"_But, isn't killing bad? Does that make me brave?" _

"_Yes." _

"_Then I don't want to kill." She ran away. And set the first headquarters to fire. She slaughtered several hundred men that night…and disappeared to reappear as Sakura Mikan. _

_**Shinigami Incorporated, Nagoya, present day**_

"You know, Sakura," Idare purred. "I was once the greatest weapon Janus ever had. When I was sixteen, I was considered Janus's best operative; a genius on stage, an old hand at the sword and a certified genius. Then, a young little wretch from an ordinary, nothing special couple comes along, and, hey, whaddya know, this kid is an Alice! Has two in fact! So, what happens to me? Hmm…oh yeah! I get pushed back to second place!"

"So?" I asked dryly. "He likes me more? Please, I'd rather he hate me to damnation!"

"That's not the point," he snarled. "The point is, I don't want some little kid messing up my style. Unlike you, I'd rather not have half the place laughing at my back, calling me a messed up loser. I want you dead now. And I mean NOW!"

"Sure, right," I said. He lunged at me, missing me as I easily sidestepped the attack. A quick karate chop to his back had him collapsing on the ground. He gained his stance again and raced towards me, the skill astounding. But not enough to beat me. "Not enough, Hirazuki," I taunted, roundhouse-kicking him in the face. A series of kicks and punches were traded but it was clear enough I had the upper hand. A trickle of blood sped from his mouth. I slapped him hard enough to send him sprawling. "I don't like doing this to you or anyone else for that matter." He was finally unconscious. "But you leave me no choice. My family over your life. Sorry."

I raced towards the monstrous house when I heard the telltale barking of guard dogs signal the distraction the others had concocted. I saw that they had caused a sort of (snicker) Broadway enactment of the greatest theater performances. Did I fail to mention that Hyuuga made a VERY bad Annie's Oliver Warbucks…not a pretty sight, I assure you… True to its Japanese theme, the walls were concrete and doors paper screens. I burst through four rooms in the main building before I finally found the Slaughter.

Even in the dim moonlight, the metal of the sword shone like silver. I watched with glazed over eyes at the weapon, fascinated with the artistry. Carved moons and stars covered the double-folded metal, magic sewn in, spells of dispersion and destruction. I lifted my hands to it as a deadly foil was laid on my hand. I looked up and saw Hirazuki Idare in front of me, a shiner on his left eye.

"Not another move, Sakura," he snarled. "You've pushed me around too many times for a lifetime." He drew back a little and started in a fencer's pose. "One match, life and death. You lose, I get the sword. I lose, you get away with it and your life."

I sighed heavily. "Your life isn't worth this effort," I said quietly. I grew into Hemorrhage as I drew my own foil. "But if this is what it takes to get you off my back, goodbye, Idare."

We clashed together in a melee of skill and ferocity. "You're letting your anger overpower you, Idare," I mocked, succeeding in making him even madder. He was always weak when it came to his emotions. He'd been abandoned when he was a child, growing up in the slums of Tokyo before Janus had found his potential incredible.

He brought his foil down, whistling but I dodged it. Only speed and fast footwork saved me from his smashes. It was common knowledge that Idare was fierce and fearful enemy when provoked.

I, for one, wanted to push him off the edge.

We fought for what seemed like ages. He had cut me deep in my leg. I had slashed his uniform. He had seared my cheeks. I had made his side bleed. I had had enough. The mercy in me wasn't enough to spare his life like Sakura Mikan would. Hemorrhage had had enough of this weakling. I pulled back and disappeared in a flash of sudden speed. I reappeared behind him as he acted one second too late. My foil, deadly and sharp, pierced through his silver-red clothing. His blood quickly soaked the material as he dropped to the ground. I discarded the weapon that had felled him.

He looked up at me with glazed over eyes. "Rest," I told him, feeling myself return to true nature. "You do not deserve this life of a murderer, Hirazuki Idare, son of Hiromi. Go to peace, sleep and do not return." His eyes didn't close. They were still, frozen with time and peace. I placed my hand over his face and closed them. Scratches and cuts adorned my face and skin as I had to limp due to my wound. It was deep. Even with my power, it would take at least three days to heal.

I touched the hilt of the sword and warmth hummed through me. Feeling sunshine that wasn't there, I lifted it off its stand. Thankfully, Raion and Hyuuga had taken out the owner of Shinigami Inc, Parsh Ingom, out at the very beginning. Not murder, of course. Just the slip of chloroform.

I limped my way to the entrance, hand covering the just-as-deep wound on my right arm. Outside, Raion and Kokoroyomi argued over some nonsensical thing. Natsume was, predictably, watching for my arrival. When they saw me, they rushed over. Tsukaima was yelling over the phone, presumably at Persona when I picked up his screaming of, "You sly worm!"

"Are you okay?" Raion asked.

I wasn't. The world was tipping, spinning. I felt the ice cold grasp of pain snatch my breath away so I couldn't inhale anything. "Won't let go," I manage. My fingers were enclosed around the Slaughter's hilt, refusing to let go. I felt myself swaying to a ballroom beat and soon, my vision was limited to the ground.

I felt the vibrations the shouts they called out but I didn't hear anything but the roar of the vicious oblivion that was rushing to meet me. A black haze I presumed was unconsciousness was coming towards me as I totally lost myself to the abyss of my mind.

* * *

AN: was it okay?? promise you won't be a missing face and review or leave me a nice message!!

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	11. Only In Your Mind

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hi ppl!! i am uploading this pretty fast compared to the other times...hehe...anyway,im sorry it's so short but it's really just a filler chapter. the next one will be up late coz my exams are coming and i havent finished studying!! i noe!! sorry lar...anyway, this chap is prety depressing and sappy...so i hope you are okay with this...after this, i have story i've been wanting to write since i got the muse from 'Little Black Book'...mwahaha...so i hope you like this and will review!! thanks!!

**love much,****  
****Blase**

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_Life is not what I thought it was  
Twenty-four hours ago.  
Still I'm singing Spirit take me up in arms with You._

_And I'm not who I thought I was  
Twenty-four hours ago  
Still I'm singing Spirit take me up in arms with You_

**Twenty-Four by Switchfoot**

* * *

**Chapter 11: Only In Your Mind**

Swaying and pale, Mikan stood in front of me as Hyuuga rushed forward; he wasn't fast enough to catch her before she fell to the ground, eyes closed. Her body lay limp but the death grip she had on the Slaughter never slacked. She'd protect it with her life if necessary.

I knew instantly what was wrong just by looking at her, curled around her left arm. I felt that queasy nag of guilt in my gut. I should have. I knew I should have told Tsukaima, anyone even, about her condition. But that damned loyalty we were trained to have, the loyalty I had towards her was constantly clogging up my mind.

Kokoroyomi pushed forward pressed what I figured was an Alice stone imbued with the healing powers of Imai Subaru to her skin. I realized that was what had been suppressing the pain of the poison for so long.

"Mikan's orders," was his explanation when Tsukaima questioned him.

She knew this was going to happen, dammit! I made it to where she lay and tore off her sleeve. The veins of red crisscrossed over an expanse of paper-white skin. It must have taken at least four doses of the poison for it to have acted so fast. Tsukaima's eyes narrowed.

"Several doses of concentrated NightSnake poison had been administered in one shot," he reported. I breathed easy. "Why are you so relieved?" he demanded, anger instantly shooting into his eyes. "That much poison can kill a human in a time span of three hours."

"We forget we aren't exactly human, Tsukaima," I snapped back. I was pissed enough, starting with the fact that Sakura had never told anyone but Kokoroyomi about her decaying condition and still fought despite the needed rest one needed when injected so many doses.

"Janus operatives, willing or not, are trained to withstand twelve concentrated doses of this particular poison and more than fifteen of deadlier ones. She'll live, especially since she's immortal but the only poison that no one, not even an Immortal can take and live is nightshade, a fatal cousin of NightSnake. Rumour has it, Sakura lives through eighteen doses.

"No, this wasn't an attempt on her life," I said. "Just a desperate or stupid curve ball to slow her down. Idare must be getting sloppy…and desperate."

"Where _is_ that charlatan's lapdog?"

"Dead," I said nonchalantly. "Knowing Sakura, she probably got too frustrated with him and got rid of him quickly. He isn't going to bother us anytime in the near future. Unless, of course, his ghost comes back."

"Let's get her back to the Academy hospital first before we talk strategy," Yuu piped up from the sidelines, his face blanching white at the veins. "Imai-sensei can at least clear her blood system."

"'Fraid not, squeaky," I said. "No Alice can cure this one. The poison would be transferred to him. One of the reasons why this poison is so damned annoying. If anything tries to come in and mess up the poison's molecular structure, it attacks the attempter. Like a sort of thigmotropism; a touch-me-not's defence system. We do have to get her back to the Academy. She'll need some care at the least."

They all looked pointedly at me and they really brought the phrase 'if looks could kill' to full bloom. "Chill, dudes, this was just a scheme to slow her down. Janus couldn't move to Castella Valley safely if Sakura knew how to get there, which she does. He would be a sitting duck in with all the stuff he'd be moving and even if it's a fifty-fifty percent chance, he can be at a high risk of being killed. If Sakura found them while they were moving, they would be very vulnerable."

"Let's just get back home," Natsume growled. He hid his ear in his voice but it was clear as day in those iridescent scarlet eyes.

"Home," Kokoroyomi whispered in an ethereal voice that called Imai Hotaru to mind. "It seems like a dream really. I don't know…if I'd ever have thought that way if I'd never gotten those memories."

"The good thing, Koko," Natsume said in surprising tender, "home is real and sadly, those dreams and memories are too. But never mind…we're going to home."

_Home…_

* * *

--,--,--,--,

_Darkness shot her like an arrow through eternal nightmares. She ran through a hall of horror, eyes of the terrorising portraits following her every step. She grasped the handle of an ornate door resembling that of the second principal's apartments and willed its entrance open. It did but the cool metal wrapped itself around her wrist and crawled up her arm as a snake. The scream she needed to release caught in her throat in a clog of bile and she felt herself choking. _

_Her feet lost the ground's stability as she plunged through the threshold of the open door. Falling, falling, falling in an infinite abyss of white light, a sharp pain, evil and thundering shot through her back and she found her body impaled on a spear-like rock. The pain she felt was excruciating. _

_Snakes, red-eyed and scaled black like the devil, slithered up the pyramid shaped rock to crisscross all over her body. She screamed up to the highest heavens and prayed for deliverance. The shadows of the surrounding area where the light did not destroy snaked and gathered to each other to form the body and handsome, unchanging face of Janus._

"_Do you really think that hypocrite you call God will saved you, a tarnished soul of my creation?" he mocked. She tried to cover her ears to block out his terrible lies but every movement was an excruciating strain and a kick to her nervous system. _

"_That God you pray to will not forgive those who carry the mark of the beast! My coat-of-arms! There is not a prayer of salvation for your dying soul."_

_The shadow of Janus split into many figures. The accusing glares of Tsukaima … Raion … Ruka and Hotaru … Natsume … Koko … her friends and teachers … Jii-chan … Azuma Yuka-san … all of them pointing and chanting a mantra. "Die, demon! Go away and take your curse!" _

_They all stopped, turned and walked away. Away from her, leaving her to rot and be infested by snakes, dangling off a rock's point._

_She screamed into the night. _

* * *

--.--.--.

Mikan began thrashing in her sleep, screaming out infidelities. "Don't leave me!" she screamed. "No! Don't let me die! I don't want to die alone! Don't leave me!" It took the combined strength and effort to keep her restrained. She thrust both of us away and tore the straps that held her still to pieces.

"Mikan!" I cried to her, willing her unconscious self to hear. "Don't let the nightmares consume you!" Her eyes bust open, glazed over with the horrific nightmares the poison had concocted.

She looked fearful and her eyes scanned for the shadows that'd made her cry out in revulsion. She relaxed a little but a brilliant light of terror still hung in those eyes.

"I saw…snakes!" she choked out in a sob. "They….they…they were everywhere! Moving under my skin and over it…everyone was leaving me…God abandoned me…the lights…" Hysterical whispers and words fell from her mouth, borne of the hallucinations she's bore witness to.

"Shhh," Natsume comforted, surprisingly tender and calming. "No one's going to leave you, youjo, no one is. Go back to sleep and dream good." She still had that wary light in her eyes but she nevertheless closed them and fell into a hopefully dreamless sleep. The poison oftentimes drove the victim to insanity with nightmares first if distributed in heavy doses. Then, when vulnerable, kill him.

"Raion? When can we get a nurse in here? I want her on sedatives whenever she needs to rest. Knowing this baka, she'll probably destroy every single piece of equipment in this room when left alone. Always was afraid of nightmares."

No matter how scathing the words sounded, he said them with a loving, almost amused tone of voice. I couldn't think of it as anything but love in his eyes, no matter how frightening the colour. He brushed away the shorn sweat-damp auburn strands that obscured her pretty face.

It was far too sharp and had too many angles for it to be beautiful. The long locks that made her face seem sweet and innocent, had been sheared off. The rosy cheeks and joyful face was now replaced with a solemn disposition and gaunt, hollow cheeks; a testament to her burden. But she was undoubtedly pretty. Never meant to be beautiful but wonderfully unique.

Clearly, she loved him too.

It was always clear in those hazel-green eyes that she said what couldn't be spoken out loud. But they were both people that had to be told, assured, untrusting as they were of what they could see but not hear. They were the biggest contradicting idiots I could've ever had the good fortune of meeting.

For a pair of supposed geniuses, they were as dumb as ostriches. And that was saying a lot, considering the size of it brain.

Well…

They always did say love never did know boundaries.

* * *

--,--,--,--,

Drifting…in and out of consciousness…

The numbing affect of the sedatives was addictive. I saw bright violet eyes that seemed all so familiar to me. Then, it occurred to me that I'd never seen an evil look to compare to the ones I saw then. That face was so handsome, the devil's own looks. Golden haired and maliciously twisting a smile. "Hello, Hage."

I tried to scream but the bile clogged up my throat and all I got was a squeak. "Shhh, we mustn't wake up the one over there," he chided, grabbing my throat. I saw Natsume lying on the sofa nearby, sleeping in peace. "Listen. I will not kill you while you are an invalid. Do not worry…but I warn you. You would do well to not get too comfortable with your friends. If you are in constant target position, they will be too. So…I suggest you do not get too close."

He vanished just as he appeared.

I felt fear for my friends.

And the guilt that Janus was right.

* * *

--,--,--,

Dalta and Kaitou sped through the night. The moving forms of other Janus operatives followed them into the dank alleys of Tokyo. They carried two seal-marked scrolls the other dark one had given them. Fear rushed through them. They had been found out and marked as traitors to the cause. They interpreted it as crusaders of the good.

Miura had disappeared for the time being into the shadows. He was with the other dark one, searching for some parable they didn't get an explanation about. He, the dark one's brother, had said it dated back more than a thousand five hundred years back. It contained information only one person knew. The Guardian of the North Mark.

The Academy walls loomed high over and practically proclaimed salvation. Kaitou boosted Dalta inside and later, jumped over himself. In no less than a few minutes, they were apprehended and dragged into the Academy's holding cells. A moment later, they were reunited with Raion, his face practically the epitome of solemn happiness.

"They've found us out," Dalta said. "Janus and his operatives have been on a Spanish Inquiry and you, me, Kaitou, Miura and two others have been identified."

"What are those?" he asked gesturing to the scrolls Kaitou held.

"We don't know," Kaitou said. "Persona told us that they'd open themselves when the time was right."

* * *

--,--,--,

Have you ever heard of the twist in the story? The thing that changes the whole build-up of the plot. It's a time when the characters fall into a turmoil of change, the time when nothing is clear and the line between the factions are blurred beyond recognition. In this time of the wars, the possibility of am imminent death threatened to be the twist that'd never been expected.

I, Hotaru Imai watched as every unfolded in a sense of crazy speed. The truth that was not in our grasps has quickly become the lies that created our lives. Sakura Mikan's life quickly spiralling out of control. In the fractures of her daily life, we saw what we missed. Or rather, chose to not see.

In this twist's cruel intentions, the world as we knew it would change drastically and would never go back to what we called normality. The knowledge that the younger generation would have the chance to change the system of grab-and-change, that kept us going on; the barrier that kept us from giving up hope.

We had to struggle for that future.

Yet, the twist remains a secret still. The true form of it is not known to us because we are not striving for it. We are striving to survive. That alone is the hardest thing to accomplish. If we do not survive, we cannot change anything.

And survival is looking to be impossible.

In our physical world…

…and in our minds.

**A/N:The ingenius fanfiction team have this system...its called reviewing...so get with it!!**


	12. The Factions

_Midnight workings, weather down the storyline  
I try to find the truth between all the lies  
When bleeding is feeling and feeling ain't real  
Will I see you when I open my eyes?  
Will I see you when I open my eyes?  
When breathing's a burden we all have to bear  
And trust is one thing we're taught never to share  
Somehow you just seem to shine  
When loving means breaking and saying goodbye_

**Wonder by Meg McCauley **

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**Chapter 12: ****The Factions**

The echo of Italian loafers on sterile marble floors hung heavily in the dreary atmosphere. In the room to the right, Kunimitsu sat on his bed with his arm in a sling, the result of his latest flying escapade. Further down the hall, a young girl with an Alice of Camouflage turned from pink to blue in a rapid fire polka-dotted combination as her teacher handed her an Alice control bracelet to stop the atrocious whirring color changes.

In the east wing, the easy and mellow visiting slowed to down to almost nothing. Nothing in a sense that this was the ICU and only one person was admitted, one person visiting. The room in which Sakura Mikan resided in was all but empty, instead cluttered with nearly every bloom known to man and one sixteen year old youth with a wealth of black hair.

His head was rested on the side of Mikan's bed, his sleep induced by the sleeping drug I'd administered to the coffee I'd instructed the nurse to give him.

Close behind me, Persona lurked like a fish out of water. With the make-up and his dark clothes made out of the very night sky, devoid of stars, he stood out like he was stark naked. He'd been deep in thought lately. There was something troubling him, something that scared him. Nothing scared him. But never once did it ever show on his face. The calamity of the Janus fiasco had thrown the Academy into mid-panic.

An enemy as ancient as the legends that'd risen from the ashes of time was causing the higher-ups to go through a time of pure, unadulterated fear, quaking in their fine LV shoes. I snorted at their attitudes. They were in fear while hiding in their crisp, ever straight business suits while the students here who faced the real threat saw it as no more than another hindrance to their everyday life. Those in the ranks didn't know what it really meant to be hidden away from the world. Just taking the children and giving them no physical contact to those they loved was inhuman while they knew nothing of it; the lifestyle of indirect incarceration.

"Carry Natsume out please, Persona," I asked of the tall slimy man. He clucked his tongue and lifted the boy effortlessly as though he weighed no more than a feather, disappearing behind the glass doors.

I touched her forehead and brushed away the sweat-dampened hair, shorn to frame only like her face. She looked so much like Yuka, it was like a bullet to my heart to see her so vulnerable, like Yuka was. Ah, how convincing some facades were. "What a mess you've made, haven't you, little Mikan," I mused aloud. It was amazing that although she wasn't Yuka's biological daughter, she looked so much like her. I bent my head and remembered all those months I spent mourning the loss of a good friend and one-time love.

"Otou-san?"

I lifted my eyes to that nostalgic memory-filled face and saw the pained, confused gaze of Sakura Mikan sweep mine. "What's going on?" I was compelled to lie, to say that nothing, that'd we'd determined Janus's location and that we had agents ready for her to command. Then, I feared it was time to stop the lying; she'd enough. Too much for her to handle. "Nothing you don't know about," I replied.

"He came…a few days ago I think," she whispered, but it sounded so much louder in the near empty room. "It's Sunday, right?"

"You've been in a coma for the past two weeks. Those two weeks ago, you suffered serious psychiatric hallucinations or nightmares of the worst kind, Raion explained it would be induced by the poison. Apparently, it extracts information from your memories and turns them into nightmares. It's the third of September, a Thursday."

"Yeah…now I remember," she said. She looked forlorn as she sat up on her bed, staring down at her hands, scarred and rough. "The nightmares…they weren't as bad as the ones I experienced when given ten doses. But…but…this time…I was so afraid…it had so many possibilities that…it was so possible for it to happen. The faces…then…I think I saw these warm eyes, like the sunsets I used to watch and I fell back into sleep." Her eyes took on a light like she was being hunted by something she wanted to kill.

"Then…he woke me up. He told me that…that I was endangering all of them. That…I was the reason for your misery, why he was hunting all of you…that he wouldn't stop killing every one of you till I came back. He'd kill them first…in front of me."

"What? Who?"

"Janus," she said in that listless tone that was the latest norm. "He came here that night, I know it. I'm endangering everyone, even you. I should never have come back here…I was so damned stupid!"

"Your intention, your choice in everything is void," I said. "Nothing that happened her was your fault but fate's choice. And if I know a lady damned well, I know her the best. It'll always work out when she's in charge. Every catastrophe, calamity, problem, joy, laugh and kick was_ meant_ to happen. Your odd upbringing, the transformation, your coming to the Academy and falling for Hyuuga. All part of her grandmaster plan."

"Whoever said I fell for Hyuuga?"

"No one had to say it," I said gently. "Believe me when I say that I'm not lying about this. It was there all along. What you both have, what you share, is so bright that you can see it in your eyes. You could look at him and nothing else would exist in your world. Maybe…maybe it will make you fall and bleed, but when you have that last piece of the blood, sweat and tears you put in, nothing is impossible."

"And I spent all these years trying not to seem transparent…Hage I mean. Hage tried all the time to be transparent when she was Sakura Mikan but when she is herself…she didn't want anyone to be able to see her. All the time…she didn't want people to be able to see right through her."

"You are anything but transparent," I argued softly. Call me the epitome of patience. "You are unfortunately an enigma we are trying to solve but you throw a thousand curveballs every single time we get close. But…I am afraid it is love that might kill Natsume. Janus is well aware that human emotions will cloud your judgment, that you will always put others in front of yourself when it comes to dying. He knows human emotions well. He's dealt with them for more than a thousand years. Do you remember the Parable of the Strong?"

"Samson's fate…those who succumb to love and forget their duty will perish."

"Exactly," I said. "You will be part of that legacy if you continue to let your emotions guide your every step and make you not do what you must. Everything always comes with a price. Yours is the burden of knowing you might never have something normal. I want you to be happy…but you won't achieve happiness knowing and trying to convince yourself that the world would be better off without you. You know that, don't you?"

She didn't say anything and the silence seemed louder than ever. Her eyes were glazed over with the past I couldn't see nor comprehend. In her heart, she'd always blame herself and she'd never live…could live with herself if one of them was hurt. "I've always known it, ever since I got that letter from Idare…and maybe beyond that…maybe I've known it since I first came here," she said softly. "I've fought for so long…that I forgot what it felt like to really have no other choice, even dying is not an option. I've known it…I just didn't want to let go. I'm very selfish, did you know that? My first trainer…he was a man of morals but he taught me. He told me it was because I didn't know any better and I could make a difference if I wasn't trapped. Then…because I didn't want that to change, I turned an ignorant eye to his secret missions…because he was like a brother to me, I was selfish. He died…"

"Everyone dies at one point."

"Yeah…but they could have had longer lives. Janus…he'll never understand the joys of living…he doesn't live…but merely exists."

"So…what's your plan?"

"To save their lives…I'll have to break theirs and my hearts."

* * *

"What the hell do you think you're doing in here?" I demanded as Natsume waltzed into my room. It'd been a week since I last saw Narumi and my emotions had been downward spiraling. They were choking me with guilt and sorrow. Blotting out every single one of them, the ones who couldn't defend themselves or would get themselves potentially killed by merely being something special to me, out of my life was probably going to be the hardest thing I'd ever have to do. "I requested that no one would bother me!"

"Even us?" a soft voice asked in calm.

I saw seven others trail in after Natsume and suddenly, the room felt cramped. I loved that feeling of being surrounded by people I cared about. Thing is, that was what was going to get them killed. I took things for granted. Hotaru, Ruka, Koko, Mochu, Sumire, Anna, Nonoko. This was going to be difficult…and painful. My eyes felt like they were glazing over with unshed tears which I quickly swept away. "Yes. Even you."

Hotaru started towards my bed. "Mikan, I think…"

"I don't care what you think," I snapped. I got out of my bed and stood my ground near the window. "You know what? This pre-apocalyptic mess is making me see the light. You're all such…ugh, I can't even find a name to describe it! Like…an incorrigible pack of annoying people!" I couldn't even find a word in my vast vocabulary.

My nails dug deeper into my palm, so hard, it would bleed if any more pressure was added. "So you're saying you don't need us?"

"Yes," I said. "You are all in my way that I can't take it anymore. This person you think I am, the Sakura Mikan you thought I was didn't exist and never will. She was just…a shadow of some illusion you thought real. I was merely the host she chose to reside in. Sakura Mikan was buried in the grounds of Nagoya. I'm saying I'm not who you think I am."

"What are you doing exactly?"

"Nothing. Just telling you what you should know…and how you should keep away from me."

"Mikan…" Hotaru said.

I steadied myself for the tidal wave. "Leave me alone," I said in the cold tone I'd mastered long ago. "I don't need you. Now, or ever. I will more likely be killed when you get killed if I slip up even a little. Do you know why? Because you have become such big thorns in my sides, I think I might actually hate you for trying to be so damn helpful! Do you know everytime I go out, I always have the same thoughts in my mind? 'What if Hotaru's inventions malfunction for even a split second?' or 'What if Yuu slips off a 20 foot drop?' or even 'What if Ruka's animals turn on him?' and the worst that ever occured to me, the most possible 'What if they all get killed because of me?' So guess what? I don't need you in my life. Not now or ever."

"Fine," Hotaru said, emotionless as ever. But I saw the glazed eyes and I felt pain shoot me.

"But, guys," Koko began. I shot an icy glare at him and froze his train of thought. He caught my look and scrutinized it with a face that tried to unravel this conundrum.

"Okay…if that's what you want."

"It is."

"Bye…" Ruka said. They all hustled out in a march of taps and shuffles. I turned to the one person who needed more than that little nudge to walk out of my life. I wouldn't let him walk out of my life…I was going to push him out. I turned to look at him, to look into those scarlet-ruby-madder-red eyes and tried to remember them forever. I was going to so hate doing this.

"You know…when I kissed you a few months ago?" I asked him quietly, turning to walk to the window where the sun was slowly beginning its descent into the horizon. Endings… "I thought we could have had something back then when I first thought I was free. Then…I figured out that I can live without you. That…all the time I said I could never live without you in my life, I could have…it was just my own selfishness that stopped me from doing what was right.

"So…I'm telling you…I don't need you in my life. I can live without the fear of you in my life. So…will you leave me alone?"

"Do you want me to?"

"Yes."

"I won't…"

"If you won't leave…I will," I said with a sad smile. I opened the window and imagined myself away. And it still didn't stop the tears from falling.

* * *

She disappeared into thin air, not a very surprising thing when she owned multiple Alices but she rarely used them, relying on her physical strength. I watched from the high branches of the birch tree outside the hospital as Natsume watched the place where she once stood forlornly.

I shook my head and pulled on my gloves. Knowing her, she'd be gone for a few days, prepping for the mission that they scheduled for two months into the future. The dividing line between her and her friends had just been confirmed and solidified so as it stood, she was in a world and army of one. Alone was how she preferred it…or not. Clearly, she loved every single one of them but the way the factions were divided, Janus's trained operatives against her friends whose gifts were guided by emotion and instinct which weren't enough to keep them alive.

In all things logic, her choice was ideal.

In terms of feelings, she'd made herself lonely and miserable.

Ah, the fates of the cursed.

Dalta and Kaitou had essentially locked themselves into their guest rooms and according the round-the-clock guards, they'd been cooped up in there reading the scrolls they'd acquired from Persona. The cockroach hadn't been seen on the grounds in flashes or glances in over a month. Things were getting crucial and as if it weren't enough, emotions were running rampant and the tension could have been cut with a knife.

I knocked on the door and called to them, "Guys, can I come in?"

"It's open!" I heard Dalta's clear voice answer. I opened the door and saw them on the floor, four scrolls opened up in front of them. Two of them I recognized from the ancient library of Janus's main building. The other two were the ones they'd carried in their arms when they made their escape. "It's a whole universe of words. This one," she said, pointing to one scroll with Latin written all over it with the Immortals seal imprinted on it, "can't be read unless we have a sort of key code. Apparently, from what I can make out, it seems to be a ritual manual on the killing of an Immortal."

"What!?" I burst. "Okay, we need to get that key code and fast. It'd be like a royal flush in this bloody game."

"That's not the best part," Kaitou said, grinning. He tapped the other scroll, a scorching red, black words literally flying across the paper. "This, _mon frer_, is _the _'Escariot Diary'. Yes, the infamous piece of magicked paper said to have every tale, every story, every thought that went through his mind recorded down and going through them like trains through Grand Central Station…and guess what's the main story playing today."

"What?"

"The Parable of the Strong...Samson. Geez, it's like fate or something. I heard what happened with Sakura. Should we go looking for her?"

"Naw," I said. "I think it's best if we left her alone."

"Right," Dalta said. "Now, let's see Samson's fate from Janus's point of view."

I snorted. "He must've seen the good in Delilah's actions."

"Mm," Dalta said. She snuggled against me when I sat on the floor. I looked down at her head fondly. We seen so much in such a short time. We'd met long before any of us came to know Kaitou or Miura. Meeting all those years ago, we'd become inseperable. It was never said, that love in either of our eyes, but just stayed unspoken. It was always there. Now, it just seemed all the more clear. What would we do if the other got hurt?

"Don't worry," she whispered into my ear. "Providence will come, Raion...and we'll be free."

* * *

God's last stand against the pagan Philistines was one of great proportions. When he laid the fate of a whole nation in a young boy's hands, no one ever knew that young Samson's tale would be a rough view into the lives of the youths of Japan, more than two thousand years into the future.

He fell in love with Delilah and fell from grace with the mere snipping of hair. The repentance for his crimes against the ones who blessed him was his life and the lives of the murderous Philistines…falling from grace. Who knew that I'd come so close to falling into his fate? I watched as the clouds rolled by steadily.

The uncannily different choices I'd made had twisted the whole world and everything was falling through. Same old, same old was what I first thought when I'd swung up onto the roof of the gazebo in the Northern Forest. In fresh jeans and a blue sweater, I gazed up to the endless abyss of sky. Nothing would be the same again, that I knew.

It was plausible, even predictable to the most dense of minds, that I was going to walk the path Samson walked. Falling prey to the temptations of life, shying away from the duties I was entrusted with would be my renewal and downfall. I jumped down after reminiscing for three hours, decided to take a breather.

Just as I walked past the cliffs where ravines ruled the land, my heightened senses picked up the rustling of bushes. I turned and saw a dark figure walk through the undergrowth…

…and fall, unconscious, onto the ground.

Persona never looked so vulnerable. A sword wound ran through his gut. Only one thing could've hurt him this much. He was dying. It wasn't common knowledge amongst the Janus operatives that Persona, the dark one they called him, was dying before my very eyes. His eyes were slightly dilated and the wound in his stomach was oozing out not red blood…but black blood, the color of ashes.

"What happened?" I demanded.

"I'm Immortal," he said simply.

"So?" I asked. "I couldn't really care less but you just needed to go off and be a hero, right? I don't get your stupid and cryptic actions. They make life all the more complicating."

He was Immortal and in his hand, he grasped the Slaughter we'd acquired. A fool's hunt. "Sakura," he said to me, grinning maliciously. His mask had fallen off and without it, without the make-up and evil aura, he looked human, handsome even. Serio…oh, he'd pay and yet be rewarded. "I am a fool you know. I didn't…couldn't believe that my brother had finally become stronger than me. The implications I thought would be my ultimate victory…they were my downfall. Would you like to know something? The power within me to kill…it is not an Alice. Just the gifts of being the son to a masochistic nutcase named Escariot…and a brother who thought that the monster, his father, who turned us into Immortal lunatics is a god! Haha…I think…I'm going to sleep for a while…"

"Why are you telling me this?"

He opened his eyes…held them open for me to see the pain and injustice he'd faced eons ago, the emotions he had never shown anyone ever. He made a sort of cracked line on his face I imagined was a smile. "So you can record it in the Escariot Diary and so…you can tell Natsume I never thought he couldn't beat me…he just didn't want to." He let his eyelids slip and never opened them again.

I felt the breeze brush by as I saw the once-tangible body of Persona disintegrate into fine black dust. Some was blown away by the wind…the rest a glittery pile on the ground, Alice controllers all that remained of him. "You should have told him yourself, Persona," I whispered. "But since you can't…neither can I. I made a promise and I won't break that promise for anyone until I am shown what's the true factions. Until then, I'm a stand-alone complex. It's just the way things were."

I gathered up his remains and controllers into a velvet bag and carried them to the table of one Aki Tsukaima. He looked at me and I nodded, telling him what I'd seen. I felt him inwardly smile and he picked up the pouch. "I suppose he deserves a place in the Hall of Dynasties."

"I suppose."

"Yes…I do think so."

"It's up to you."

"Yes. But you found him. You can...un-find him, can't you?

"Of course."

"Any suggestions?"

"The ravines?"

"Oh, play nice, will you."

"How does the hidden graves sound to you?"

"Yes, that should be adequate enough."

"Yes. I agree.

I watched his every movement, evey one more plausible than the next. No one would guess that Aki Tsukaima was an Immortal, no one. Not by his good boy demeanor and definitely not by his inhuman compassion for all things Alice. I wondered if I could ever be as good as he was. I didn't know. I was, I remember, a rebel against everything unjust; the ruthless killing of humans, the loss of friends, the incarceration of children and the status quo they'd formed in this instution. Who would have thought this place was where they would be most safe? I recalled what I'd done and nothing I'd ever do in my life would make-up for it.

If anyone had ever thought that I forgot everything that had happened to me, everything I'd done, everything I'd seen and heard, they are sadly wrong. I have never forgotten and never will forget. Every murder, every decimation and every threat to my friends will forever be embedded into my memory next to the memories I'd created here. And yet, I didn't want them to be. But they are.

I will never forget.

* * *

The course of the intended was messed up, thrown around in a maelstrom of confusion. Yuka Azumi once said to me that nothing was ever what it seemed to be. She was right. Maybe the course of action her actions would be the mirror image her daughter would take. Though they didn't know it, the two shared a common path. Working for a corporation that nearly destroyed their lives and running away from the cataclysmic events that would have triggered a decimation of the century.

It had tilted the world and maybe the lives of the ones connected to them…

…and they all sought to sever all ties to those who would only reap death from their connection to them.

In the eye of the storm, they both sat in despair, clutching their hearts in an attempt find peace and happiness.

They didn't know it would take a sacrifice to achieve it all.

The price of the everlasting memory and possibly their own lives.

* * *

**Author's Note: Heyy all! welcome back! I hope you've enjoyed this chapter as much as I have. Anyway, I hope this will be finished in the three month timeline I've set for myself!! hehe...check out my profile for some new stuff I might come up with!!**

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Author's Note: _Hey there ppl! How y'all doing? Anyway, I'm taking a big risk and uploading this before exams because I love you so damn much!! Hehe...I had a muse for this going on for a while and while it's not perfect, I love it anyway! Life isn't perfect you know...hehehe...yeah...I have so many stories going on now, it's crazy! The sequel for A Thousand Years With You will be (I decided) a small pressie from me to you in August. Hopefully... when I get Hemorrhage down, the sequel will be up in late December. Then, I have my new, three-chaptered story, Deux Ex Machina, up by the 19th and I hope you guys like it!! hehehehe...I am so damn happy for the nomination in this year's GA Awards and although I dint win, its' okay...I congratulate My Hopeless Romantic with many muses and that she will continue thriving!! and hopes that so will I!! hahahahahaha...anyway...onto the story!! BDW, alot in her is downplayed. So if you think it's kind of impossible to happen, just...read and imagine her screaming...can you imagine her with short hair?? will promise to post a pic of her that i drew one day...hmmm..._

_Hello again...erm...i've added a little bit more so there...and i dun put the POV coz..it's just not fun then!_

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	13. The Cost Of Pride

****

Hi!! Blase here and I know it's been AGES since i last uploaded PLUS it totally screams filler chapter. I'm so sorry but I've been so busy lately. I'm sorry but I'm afraid I might have to take down More Than Meets The Eye because it is a devastation to my heart! haha... i know, i know, a travestry! Anyway, this might take a while so I'm sorry but Not So Honest Mistakes is sorta my therapy. So, yeah...I hope you'll stay with me through it all. If you're interested (really only..) then you can visit this blog site where's i'm writing a fantasy thing...it's not GA but it's sorta nice..i hope...haha...so i'll see you on the flip side!

**- XD Blase**

**P.S. All per norm, some extra, MUAY IMPORTANTE bit is included down there...you HAVE TO READ IT!!**

_Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need._

* * *

_-__**Kahlil Gibran**_

* * *

**Chapter 13: ****The Cost of Pride**

The times had moved.

Sakura Mikan knew that much. In the corruptions that shook the world to its core, the very destruction of human nature, one emerged from it to create a havoc that would destroy the world. The movement of the sand in the hourglass had spun around and around in a carousel that didn't seem to end was fast-paced and nothing seemed to be repeated twice as the sands moved in a circular system.

Her love for her friends had shaken her to a vulnerable position. A position that directly threatened her own life; the life she couldn't afford to lose because if she did lose it, she wouldn't have the chance to save any of the millions that might suffer, those she sought to protect at the very frontlines of the torturous hellfire she was bent on destroying.

Pride made her set herself apart, from the accusations and assumptions made to break her, made to show her that she needed them. But she knew, they knew, that they didn't do much, that she didn't really need them…that she had more of a chance of surviving when they were not around her. Too bad they didn't know she wasn't planning on surviving beyond killing the madman.

In times of battles, in the era when King Arthur was supposedly real, Janus hid in the cover of night, the disastrous occurrences going near unnoticed by those it did not concern. To the 21st century, nothing that threatened with something unlike a gun was considered almost non-existent and extinct. To those who'd experienced them and survived, it was like a curse reawakened. The thoughts that showed that the younger generation had truly lost all sight of the true power of the shadow cast them into an abyss of despair where the demons and fears of man existed wholly and truly.

Day and day passed as rigorous training not unlike the ones of the Spartans were hoisted upon her, Raion and me. The fact that she and Raion hadn't noticed I had the abilities, characteristics and history of an Immortal hadn't really surprised me. Living amongst human Alices for so long had made me sane and safe I often thought.

* * *

**August**

**September**

**October**

Three months after the revelations of her true intentions, winter had slowly slipped into the Academy, everything changing to white at a snail's pace. The peace had become a fake thing, a mask everyone hid behind to conceal the fear that they had locked inside. Sakura Mikan had become nearly a ghost, disappearing and reappearing in and out of the Academy. Tossed into a salad of chaos, the students lived in terror, Alices their only defense and possibly not enough.

I crossed blades with Natsume in early November. The ice had thickened the lake water and we battled there with rapiers sharp as any broadsword. The clash of metal brought the memory of metallic smells to my mind. I breathed heavily as he came at me again. He slashed the air as I evaded the attack to my gut. I levered my self onto his shoulders, did an aerial twist and in one move, I had him in a headlock, a dagger ready to pierce his throat.

"Okay, okay, I give," he said, putting his hands up in a gesture of surrender. I chuckled and looked at him, measuring him up to Mikan. I sighed audibly and sheathed the dagger. "So, Tsukaima, what's this I hear about a spy being sent into the base?"

I felt the fear in my throat constrict as I struggled to gain ground. I drew the years of experience in lying to me, bringing on a small smile, my eyes hopefully showing nothing. "Yes, Mikan mentioned a new recruit that apparently had an ability, but not an Alice. More of a…talent. Shape shifting so the spy can move in after the boy has been disposed of. We need to figure out what he's planning."

* * *

--,--,--,

Dalta limped into the sunlight of the day. It had been ages since she'd last seen sunlight. The pain bit into her side, searing her nerves with lightning. A twisted ankle, three broken ribs and sword wounds…that was her sentence. Dalta trudged on, the pain becoming more excruciating with every moment she didn't feel the peace of sleep.

Tsukaima had requested she use the spells she'd learned from young to help. Not only was she elated, she was overjoyed. The knowledge that she was weak, the weakest of them all, her spells only able to heal, hide and scry, had cast her into a depth of sadness. The mission had been simple. Get into the headquarters of the spawn of the Devil and get the information on where the ritual was taking place.

Well…she'd found out all right. Kura, a senior spy had told her that Janus was supposedly looking for a way to resurrect the dead Creator, Escariot and that to that, he needed another Immortal. Since Hirazuki was dead and so was Persona, the last choice he had was Mikan, the obvious choice because he also planned to make her pay for the blow she dealt to his ego.

Ever the demon of the underworld, he was all shadows and darkness, nothing else. He sold his soul to the devil the day he discovered the Immortal calling. She knew this so well when he found out her secret. The iron gates of the Academy lay in front of her but a feeling tinkled the power she'd learned from youth. Someone had followed her.

She used the reserves of energy she'd stored safely, tucked away in the recesses of her cold body to throw herself against the gates. "Open the gates!" she screamed, feeling the presence coming nearer and nearer. The seals placed by Tsukaima and Sakura held fast, denying her power entrance into the school. "For the love of God, open the gates!"

Slowly…slowly the solid shadow was coming upon her…and Dalta felt herself stiffen as the hand of darkness touched her shoulder. The oxygen in her throat constricted and became a malleable, solid force, choking her. The sparks of invisible magic was in her sight and she knew she was dying. And the scream of a familiar voice stopped the suffocating ball of air that clogged her throat.

"Dalta!" she heard. The world spun out of her control…and the ground was all she saw. The shadow's presence shrank from the plane of her mind and vanished just as the black haze enveloped her.

* * *

--,--,--,

Tubes and needles were stuck in all available areas of skin. I watched the unsteady rise of her chest as her lungs were pumped to keep air moving in. My brown hair was swathed in front of my face as Raion sat in the white couch, face in his hands. He'd been like that since he'd found her, dying on the Academy's doorstep and the guilt was killing him.

"I should never have let her go," he kept murmuring to himself. I watched his pain and something occurred to me. Through all the suffering and sacrifices, they'd found something rare and beautiful. The pain of the look on Natsume's eyes was forever burned into my mind's eye and I couldn't get it out of my head.

I felt Dalta's hand twitch in my own. I leaped to my feet and I saw Dalta's golden eyes staring back at me. her gasps for air began as she ripped off the mask. "Sakura," she panted. "You have to know…I'm dying…" Coughing fits began. Raion leaped off the couch and gripped her hand.

"Don't talk, Dallie," he whispered. "Stay with me. Shh…"

She turned to me. "No…I'm dying. Bastard put a curse on me. Listen to me…"

"Stop talking," Raion interrupted. Dalta glared at him feebly, the strength deserting her body quickly.

"Raion…I need you to listen to me…there's nothing you can do," she said softly and she turned to me, her eyes hopeful and worried. "Sakura, you have to know. Janus isn't looking to destroy you. If he had…he would have done it a long time ago. It's not that you're terribly strong…rather he had no use of you till now."

"Why?"

Another coughing fit began and she began again in hoarse voice. "Escariot…he's looking to raise Escariot and his undead army. He's been waiting to do this for centuries but he'd never found a way. But he did when he found the scrolls. The legend says that an Immortal must die for the ritual to be complete. He's lost all his Immortals so far and those he can't lose are far too talented. He wants you to pay for your betrayal."

My face flushed of all color and I remembered all those legends, stories really, that told of a descendant of Judas, murderer of Christ. This second Judas was hell-bent on destruction. I remember someone once telling me (I don't recall who though) had once told me that there were just some people who wanted to watch the world burn, the fact that they may burn to not a sacrifice they were unwilling to make.

I closed my eyes as Dalta's breathing took a rapid trip downhill. "Sakura." Cough. "You must..." Cough. "…destroy that stupid charlatan before he kills anymore. Please." She turned to Raion and touched his face, her eyes seemingly endless with wisdom. "I love you…I'll always love you no matter what." And her eyes died with her, the light in her gone, snuffed out by the darkness that threatened to kill us all.

"No," Raion whispered. Then he screamed it.

I felt the corners of the world pin me. I was swollen with sadness as I watched her slender figure be lowered into her grave. I felt the pain in my heart and my soul at what I'd done. Maybe if I'd been the one to go, she'd never be attending her own funeral. The tears, hard as I tried, didn't come.

I didn't cry.

This was what I paid.

The cost of pride and power was the pain and loss.

I held my head high and prayed for hope where there was none.

I never wept.

Didn't weep. Couldn't weep. Wouldn't weep.

* * *

Keanu Whidbey wondered for the millionth time that year why he'd left beautiful England for this nut-job school. The fact wasn't that he saw the strange things that were rumored to happen here. That was just it. He would kill to see something happen! The odd comings and goings of that pretty, brown-haired student wasn't enough to keep his bored-o-meter going down.

And the one night he was off, something rumored to be a witch collapsing in front of the gates happens! He mourned for his luck.

A silhouette of a man came walking down and Keanu wondered how long it would take for him to walk past the huge Academy gates but to his utter disbelief, the man walked up to him. When a weathered but handsome face smiled tiredly at him, all he could do was open his mouth and close it.

"Hello, I'm here to see Sakura Mikan."

Sakura Mikan.

Deirdre, his superior, had told him to let anyone in who used that name but didn't say why. He was, however to ask him for his business there.

"I'm here to tell her some important things. You see, I'm her father. Iroyashi's the name, Iroyashi Kieran."


	14. Family Portrait

I'm back!!! I'm so sorry it's been an AGE since I last uploaded something but the writing block bit me and wouldn't let go until I relieved all my favourite Gakuen Alice fanfics and I remembered why I like writing so much. Yes, much to be said for this chapter since it's so short but I don't expect a long chapter until Chapter 17 which is TWO chapters away. But I hope all of you are still watching! or Reading... whatever. Anyway, to also compensate for the delayed chapter, I have been busy with another non-GA project after I played Devil May Cry and promptly got hooked on it. But don't worry, I'll finish everything I promised!

This chapter is not so much emotion than speculation and after much complaining, I have decided to add in the POVs so complainers, be appeased! Okay, enjoy! So until I see you next in the Chapter 15! '

Much later (hopefully)

Blase

* * *

This alone, you're in time for the show  
You're the one that I need  
I'm the one that you loathe  
You can watch me corrode like a beast in repose  
'Cause I love all the poison  
Away with the boys in the band

_The Sharpest Lives_, My Chemical Romance

**Chapter 14: Family Portrait**

**Mikan**

I scrutinized the man sitting before me, elegantly sipping his tea as if he didn't just waltz into the Academy – sharing the shit out of the security guard – and announce the existence of a father I thought dead for the past sixteen years, the man whom is never knew.

Iroyashi Kieran was a man who stood at an alarming six foot one – nothing compared to Ruka and Natsume's six foot four – and had the eyes that had been inherited by myself. Grandpa had always said I was the splitting image of my mother but my eyes were my father's. I could see why but the curling emotion when I saw him wasn't relief, happiness, joy, sorrow or confusion.

It was a red, red, red, bright, bloody anger and the dark cold feeling of abandonment I had let go of when Janus had told me my parents had abandoned me. That was an empty feeling, I had told myself, knowing that I was an instrument to be used, not to think because instruments do not think.

They are used for other people.

'Mikan,' he said after a painful five minutes of absolute, deafening silence. 'I am not here to say I am sorry for letting you get taken away.' He set his tea cup down and settled back into the settee, fingers clasped. I felt my fingers tense on the fabric of my khakis, the tears that threatened to shed crawling around my eyelids, testing its boundaries.

'I came to help you against Janus because you are my daughter,' he said with a calm I found infuriating. Why was he intending to provoke my anger which would inevitably lash out and smack him in the face? I was a perfect weapon, not perfect patience. 'He killed your mother and I cannot let the fact that he did cloud my judgment of your murders.'

'So you're trying to imply that I killed for sport and that I could have had a choice?' I asked. I could hear all the anger coming slowly, converging in a point that was beginning to swell, explode soon. 'That I had a choice in everything I did?'

'Everyone has a choice, Mikan,' he said, not unkindly, not gently either. 'Everyone, even a mutated child has the choice of a different future. Legends are made in ways you would not understand and you are nothing short of an ugly legend.'

'An ugly legend? Please explain.' I wasn't gritting my teeth. For the first time, I was in danger of murdering someone for the sheer pleasure of it.

'A force that can be reckoned with but under the control of another, a legend not made by yourself,' he said. I reached forth to cut the cake Narumi had brought in for us. I felt anger rear its ugly head. I was the perfect weapon, not the perfect saint. 'You, my dear Mikan, are nothing but an ugly legend.'

That was it.

I let the knife fly and it – sadly – missed his head by a few inches. 'I've had it!' I yelled. 'Do you have any sort of clue as to what I went through those bloody sixteen years ago? Actually, did you know, I'm twenty, twenty bloody years old so, dear daddy, I was lost to you _twenty years ago, not sixteen_! Couldn't you get THAT right?'

'I'm afraid that I did not and I honestly do not really care,' he said, picking up his tea and sipping again. The behemoth in my mind was held by a thread, the leash slowly snapping from the weight and pressure. 'I do not care that I have a daughter but I do care that you are mine and that you were taking away from my love, your mother.'

Then it struck me that he'd never referred to her as his wife. He called me his daughter but not legitimate nor a bastard. That would be the icing on the cake. Sakura Mikan the Bastard and Murderer. 'Mikan-…' he said before I screamed for him to stop.

'Do not call me that,' I bit out. 'I am not Sakura Mikan, evidently if your story is true which I guess it is. What was my mother's name?'

'I am not going to tell you.'

'Fine. What was my name?'

'I do not know, actually.'

'Iroyashi Kieran,' I snapped. 'If you value your life in the least, you will tell me the name that my mother christened me with. Should you tell me anything but, I swear that whoever knew you in this present time will find themselves wondering about your disappearance and I should tell you I have immunity from law enforcements unlike those of the normal community. Like you have so implied moments ago, I am an ugly legend, not above murdering my own father.'

'I do not know,' he said again. I felt my eyes rise to its tiger orange eyes, sharpening and the furrows between my eyebrows deepening; and I lost the humanity and mercy I had in a loose grasp. My hand swung backwards then forwards to grasp his throat in a cobra's vise. I tightened until he could not speak unless I permitted it. His eyes finally flickered with fear as my words sunk in.

I am an ugly legend, not above killing my father.

'I will ask you one more time before I fling you out of the window, Iroyashi-sama,' I sneered. 'What is my name?'

'I will not tell you what I do not know,' he said. 'But I will add an explanation if you would so kindly set me down.' The tiger essence inside me now, the Halogen induced personality of Hemorrhage refused to do so but the Sakura Mikan inside me, the person I wasn't but was at the same time, pleaded with me to listen.

'I won't kill you,' I heard my voice say, 'yet. But I will listen to your explanation, so long as it makes sense that will not cause me to kill you just yet. Start.'

'Very well,' he said. 'I am the son of your deceased grandfather, Iroyashi Imamura. Currently, I run Iroyashi Holdings, a private company based in the States. Once upon a time, I met a woman called... I do not think I should tell you… anyway, we fell in love and it is a very Romeo and Juliet tragedy. Suffice to say, I had no idea she was an Alice and she disappeared, carrying a child I knew nothing about.'

'So you're saying you're nothing but an injured party in this whole tragedy?' I asked quietly, the tiger fading slowly into the background. The fire of my anger had been banked if not, snuffed out. Instead, pain came to take its place. What was his part in this then? Why was he here?

'Exactly.'

'Then, get out,' I snapped. 'If all you're here to do is tell me how much of a failure I am to you, then go back to your family. I am guessing you were forced into an arranged marriage, that's why you never call my mother your wife. Because you have family you sort of cherish although not with passion.'

'Exactly,' he said again. I released my hold on his throat and he went to sit on the settee again, sipping his tea like he was some kind of bloody Brit. 'But I didn't come here to rant your many mistakes and the chances you could have taken. Quite frankly, I do not care what happens to you although I do have a small portion of advice for you to take. Do not be the sacrifice you need to be to save this pathetic world you're trying to desperately to fit in.'

'You know?' I asked, slightly dazed by the fact that this man who spawned me knew all along about who I was. 'Who the heck are you?'

'Didn't I already explain this before? I am Iroyashi Kieran-…'

'That's a whole lot of crap and you know it,' I said. 'How do you know about the Tract of Death? The Sacrifice?'

'Oh, well,' he said. 'There's very little I do not know. But, this has concern to your mother. She was a servant of the Immortals and it suffices to say, she gave you up to ensure her place in amongst the Immortal ranks.'

The warmth disappeared from my face as I listened to his words and my eyes closed as I imagined an older Sakura Mikan, no, an older Hemorrhage, giving away her only child to a madman because the child was an Alice, a more durable force of life than a normal human. I felt all the feeling of anger and the emotions of abandonment return to me. I opened my eyes and saw Iroyashi Kieran putting on his coat and reaching for his hat.

'It's cold outside,' he said conversationally. 'Don't forget to wear warm clothes, even if it isn't very ceremonial. The day of Reckoning is coming soon, don't let it slip. The Slaughter will only work if you really think the Sacrifice will work.' He slapped on his hat and turned to Mikan.

His hand, warm, dry but soft having never seen a day's work outside an office cubicle, touched my cheek and ran it up and down my face. I was drained of all emotion – anger, sadness, fear, happiness, sorrow and abandonment – were all gone. Exhaustion plagued me. 'Even if I were never to more of you than the fact that you're so giving, I would be regardless proud of you. So proud.'

He kissed my forehead and held up a hand in farewell. 'Goodbye, Sakura Mikan,' he said. 'I hope you take my advice today.' He opened the door of the sitting room and began to leave.

Then stopped.

He turned to face me with an inscrutable face, one I couldn't decipher. 'You know, if you hadn't already been made a legend, I would have called you 'Scelta'. Don't go hunting your mother. She isn't worth it, selling you to the highest bidder for her life. I won't tell you her name because it doesn't matter anymore. _She_ doesn't matter anymore. Live your life the way you want to because it's the most important thing.'

He scanned her face again, as if trying to etch it into his mind and smiled just a little. 'I hope I don't see your gravestone next. Goodbye, Sakura Mikan.' He shut the door behind him, leaving me with a wealth of questions, wondering, wondering, wondering which had been answered and which hadn't.

Scelta, he'd called me.

He couldn't have been more wrong than that. I was nothing like that. I have no choice, no option, no other door to run to. Nothing was all I had. That was sad and horribly ironic. Hemorrhage, assassin, Immortal, Alice and two-faced idiot of the century had nothing to call her own, nothing to care for.

_Scelta. _

_**Choice.**_

I walked to the other door that led to Aki Tsukaima's rooms and rested my hand against the cool wood. All the tears I had been holding back, all the sorrow that had been building up like a crescendo of a choir piece was escalating beyond that was allowed…

…and my knees buckled, I crumpled onto the ground and I cried. I wailed, sobbed, wept and plain out cried as I replayed my meeting with an estranged father and a life I could never wish for simply because I was me and when you wished wishes, they either didn't come true or didn't last long enough for you to smile.

I cried and cried and cried, never noticing that he never once said he loved me.

* * *

Raion watched as Hyuuga Natsume arranged the last pieces of kindle around the body of Dalta. His eyes were ringed with dark circlets of tiredness, sorrow and anger. He couldn't and wouldn't blame Sakura Mikan for this mess, this pandemonium that they now called their lives.

Dalta, Kaitou and Raion were never high ranking in the ladder of Janus operatives but their usefulness – Dalta's visions, Raion's speed and Kaitou's fury – were always in demand when it was called for. It was so, so hard to not place the bulk of the blame on Sakura Mikan's shoulders.

Hyuuga Natsume, ever the epitome of cold and aloof detachment, touched Raion's shoulder in respect. The latter nodded and turned back to the lifeless body of the one he had loved an age ago. Sakura Mikan was absent from the cremation, having a guest of some sort. If the rumors were to be believed, it was her birth father.

The one that Janus had supposedly killed twenty years ago.

'Dalta lived and breathed for the day we would kill Janus, Raion,' Kaitou said to Raion who stared as Hyuuga called forth the flames were his right. The dancing fires licked greedily at the girl's blonde hair and crumpled her skin, charred it till nothing was left. Raion couldn't take his eyes off her even if he wanted to. It was impossible.

'Yeah, so much that she died for it all,' he said cynically. The pain hurt. Then he looked to Natsume as he also stared at the spectacle and Raion fancied that Natsume saw a different body burning on the pyre. A body beloved, a face cherished; a soul lost forever behind the Gates of Hell he knew she was damned to go towards.

'She will go to a happy place,' Hyuuga said in a hollow voice. 'She will… and that's more than we could hope for if Mikan were to be in her place.'

'Sakura Mikan will live forever,' Raion said. The times were getting hard, cynicism was hardening the hearts of the hopeful, destroying the faith they held in a single soul, anger that she, the person destined to stop this madness, would live eternally, forever in a body that would never age beyond its twenties. 'She's lucky.'

'Something isn't right,' Aki Tsukaima said abruptly. Imai Hotaru, Kokoroyomi, Tobita Yuu, Nogi Ruka and rest of their gang turned to the Student Council President and for the first time, wondered just to what extent the kid knew what was happening in the tragedy that was swallowing the Academy. 'Sakura isn't telling us something and I feel like no matter what we do, how much we become and how much healing she goes through, she won't tell us until the point where we can't do anything.'

'Definitely, Mikan,' Imai Hotaru put in dryly. 'She's not going to tell us precisely for the reason that we'd try to stop her and, in the process, get hurt. Don't you think it's just like the baka to go off and pretend to be the knight in shining armor? And I would love to add in that that should have been Natsume's role but that would be out of character and wrong, wouldn't it?'

'Amen to that,' Ruka said, wrapping an arm around her waist. Natsume raised his eyebrows slightly at this – he still had to put up his aloof façade – and wondered when did those two get so close? Was it when the panic was becoming evident? Or were they just giving action to the saying 'troubled times makes the oddest allies'?

All in all, it was just plain out weird.

Like a very bad soap opera he couldn't turn off because his role had been killed off and he wanted to stop it all.

'Hyuuga aside,' Tsukaima said with a pointed glance at said subject. 'I think we should start preparing don't you think? The time of Reckoning is coming very soon and I for one do not want to be caught unawares.'

'Speaking of Reckoning, can't we call it something more interesting?' Koko put in, a grin on his face. 'I mean, Resident Evil has Armageddon and Terminator had Doomsday. It sucks that we have such a lame name!'

'Koko!' Tsukaima, Ruka, Imai, Sumire, Nonoko, Anna and Yuu scolded in unison. The mind reader simply shrugged and followed them as they headed towards the teachers' lounge to get information on what weaponry and magic mojo they could get their hands on.

Natsume walked on par with Koko and smirked his trademark. 'I for one prefer Armageddon. I mean, pssh, it is the coolest name!'

'Ah, but Doomsday is straight to the point and doesn't confuse the people that do not have the intelligence you posses!' Koko argued, smiling.

There was a collective groan amongst the group but inside their hearts, a radiance that hadn't shone in days glinted brightly.

_What a perfect day. _


	15. Extra: The Story So Far

A/N: Hey all! Okay, give thanks to omen-chan who suggested (or rather told me very politely) to do this kind of thing. It's not very clear since I hadn't the foggiest clue on how to do this so, I'm sorry it cuts short since it was VERY painful to write it. So, if you have anything else you don't understand, just email me and I'll do my best to answer them in a simple way and I hope that I will make no more mistakes. I've realized I got a LOT of wires crossed and confused everyone so I'm SO SORRY! I hope you guys will understand now!

**The Story So Far…**

**Sakura Mikan **faces a danger she never thought would come back and haunt her. The day that she receives a letter from one **Hirazuki Idare**, she realizes that she will never be free of the chains that bind her. The 'Shizo Academy' is nothing but a masked identity for the dark mask that binds everything. Personally, for Mikan, this is journey to escape from everything. Friends, comrades, teachers are no longer discernable so she runs away, leaving doubt in their hearts. On the way, **Kokoroyomi** is implanted with the memories of her past.

Here, we discover just what she is, but not totally. Mikan remembers she was once Hemorrhage, a person with the ability to kill with her bare hands, speed away at the speed of light and act like someone else. Then, **Nogi Ruka** faces the fears that the girl he once loved was a murderer, someone darker than **Natsume Hyuuga**. Iinchou, Yuu Tobita, attacks him, disbelieving that someone that once loved Mikan could think of her like that and tells him to see Kokoroyomi.

Koko later meets up with a sorrowful **Imai Hotaru** and tells the story of one Sakura Mikan, the pain and torture she endures as a week month old child. Things are foggy here and only revealed later (chapter 7) where Hotaru learns that Sakura Mikan would need friends.

The next few ensuing weeks, the students of the Academy begin to speculate about what really happened that night as Hotaru Imai and Hyuuga Natsume think back to what and who Sakura Mikan really was. Rumors, likely and unlikely crop up and Imai Hotaru shares with Hyuuga Natsume what he knew all along but didn't dare believe and they saw the monsters that stared them in the face.

Sakura Mikan's war had just begun.

Hyuuga Natsume rejoins the negotiations on the case of Sakura Mikan and gets into an argument with the head of the Student Council, **Aki Tsukaima**. Natsume suggested going on the offensive and taking the fight to who he thinks is the AAO. But Tsukaima refuses and with the consent of four of the six Council members, **Kenta Yuri, Ayaka Iru, Kimura Hinata **and** Nero Koyama**, he tells the group of the Academy's darkest secret.

The AAO that existed was nothing but a puppet of another organization whose purpose far surpassed that of the Academy, led by a single psychopath named **Janus** who was hell bent on the destruction of the world. The Student Council leader reveals he has the ability to create long lasting illusions for a limited number of people but is otherwise, limitless.

We flash to Sakura Mikan who gives us a deeper insight to who Janus is. He was portrayed as a man who considered himself a god, using operatives to carry out an unknown plan. She remembers how she was used and abused by him and her trainer, Fujimiura. She tried to attack him when she was younger and realizes that he cannot be killed simply. She was called Hemorrhage then.

Later, she flashes back to the time when she had run away from the Janus operation and run into Azumi Yuka who is carrying her dead child, Sakura Mikan, to be buried. She realizes that this girl, Hemorrhage, looked exactly like her child she gives her her child's name and takes her to her father's house.

Sakura Mikan then meets **Maki Kurano**, code named Ariyoku, who tells her that there were rebels in the Janus operation that were looking out for her. She doesn't believe him but when he warns her against returning to the base of operation, she turns and runs towards Okinawa. Meanwhile, Hyuuga Natsume realizes he loves Sakura Mikan.

Persona, Natsume, Hotaru and Koko head off to the Janus main operations building. Natsume is told that Sakura Mikan was not at the base, evoking absolute wrath, but they were there on an information hunt. Inside, Natsume runs into Maki Kurano who tells him to run but they are intercepted by Janus. Janus kills Maki – who had told the other rebels to warn Sakura – and captures Natsume.

….

**So Far…**

Mikan Sakura has returned to the Academy, saved Natsume, explained her damned heritage, and turned her back on her friends. Now, a long lost father who couldn't give a damn about his only daughter arrives to spell out the doom she is going to face. What is the Tract of Death and who is Sakura Mikan?

**Characters**

**Hirazuki Idare**

He is second in command in Janus's organization. He has a grudge against Mikan for kicking him off the status quo ladder. He had black hair and sharp gray eyes that seem to pierce you. He has no Alice and is a threat to their lives. He is portrayed after Devil May Cry's Vergil.

**Aki Tsukaima**

He has gold eyes and lavender hair. Aki was pronounced Student Council Head at the age of sixteen, by far the youngest. He has the Alice of Age Transferrence where he can literally turn young, along with six others. His Alice is limited only by the quantity of people, not by time. He plays a mysterious part in the whole situation and is actually thirty nine in age. He has an affection for Sakura Mikan and while she doesn't know it, he is actually also an Immortal.

**Janus**

He was once called Emmanuel but changed his name during the Guardian Ritual where a 'brother' called – mockingly – Judas Escariot turned him into an Immortal. He forced a scientist named Faust to create Halogen, a silver liquid that manufactured Immortals. Sakura Mikan was the only successful experiment due to her position as an Alice and her ability to Nullify. He is hellbent on getting back Sakura Mikan for another ritual to revive the dead Judas Escariot and an undead army of Immortals.

**Maki Kurano**

He is the deceased leader of the Janus rebellion. He saved Natsume from total annihilation but lost his life in the process. He has no Alice but is a Janus operative, ranked tenth.

**Raion**

He is currently on the front lines of the Academy's war. He is/was the lover of Dalta – deceased – and is out for revenge against Janus. He is – unofficially – next in line for the leadership of the resistance. He has no Alice but is a Janus operative, ranked fifteenth.

**Dalta **

She is of Greek lineage and of a family that practices a sort of magic. She can sense spirits and send them off safely. She is in love with Raion. She was killed while on a mission to gather information in the Janus building in Tokyo. She and the other rebel, Kaitou, retrieved the scrolls on how to kill an Immortal. She has silver white hair and gold eyes. She is not a Janus operative but is used as an external spy.

**Kaitou**

He is the newest member of the rebellion and is considered hotheaded by most. He helped Dalta retrieve the Scrolls.

**Kyosuke **

He is a low ranked Janus operative who wants a quick ride to the top of the ladder. He is portrayed as a bootlicker

**Iroyashi Kieran**

He is Mikan's biological father and doesn't care much for Mikan. He loved his mistress – Mikan's mother – dearly and was enraged when she was murdered. He advises Mikan 'do not be the sacrifice you need to be to save this pathetic world you're trying to desperately to fit in'. He is proud of her regardless of her foolishness.

* * *

A/N: So, did it make any sense? Just so you know, I'll be adding the P.O.V.'s at the top of the paragraphs so you won't be confused anymore, since I've gotten so many complaints about it. But, I'll tell you that I only did it for the fun of it because I love confusing people.. It's just my sadistic way of saying I love you guys. If anyone has any questions, review the chapter with the questions or email me and I'll post them in the next chapter at the bottom.


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